Somalia CSPA Country Profile • Stimson Center

CSPA Implementation Tracker

Somalia

Years Listed

Each shaded box corresponds to a year the country appeared on the CSPA list and what types of waivers it received, if any.

Somalia has appeared on the CSPA list for fifteen consecutive years beginning in 2010. The U.S. president waived, either in part or in full, CSPA prohibitions against the provision of U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Somalia for eleven consecutive years beginning in 2013, resulting in the provision of more than $2.4 billion in arms sales and military assistance between FY2014 and FY2024. Specifically, the president has waived more than $30 million in Direct Commercial Sales, more than $2.2 million in International Military Education and Training, more than $2.7 billion in Peacekeeping Operations assistance, and more than $140 million in Section 1206 or Section 333 assistance to Somalia. The president denied Somalia more than $63.6 million in Direct Commercial Sales due to CSPA prohibitions.

According to the U.S. State Department, Somalia’s federal security forces – including the Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), and National Intelligence and Security Agency – as well as its regional security forces – including the Puntland Forces, Puntland Police, Galmudug Forces, Galmudug Police, Hirshabelle Police, Jubaland Forces, and Somaliland Forces – have all recruited and used child soldiers since the CSPA took effect in 2010. The various federal security forces often uses child recruits in support roles to carry equipment, run errands, guard military bases, or direct traffic – though there have also been reports of army units deploying children as front-line fighters.¹

Total Waived and Prohibited

Since the CSPA took effect.

Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Year²	Government or Associated Entities Affiliated with Child Soldier Recruitment or Use (per relevant TIP Report)
2010	Transitional Federal Government (TFG)³
2011	TFG and allied militias⁴
2012	TFG and allied militias⁵
2013	Somali National Armed Forces (SNA); Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a (ASWJ) militia (affiliated with the SNA); numerous clan and other militias⁶
2014	Somali National Security Forces (SNSF), Somaliland Forces, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)⁷
2015	Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militia, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ)⁸
2016	Somali National Army (SNA), Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ), pro-Galmudug militia⁹
2017	Somali National Army (SNA), Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a, clan militia¹⁰
2018	Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ) militia, clan militia¹¹
2019	Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias, such as the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ), clan militias, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)¹²
2020	Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), Galmudug Forces, Galmudug Police, Jubaland Forces, clan militias, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)¹³
2021	Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), Puntland forces and police, Jubaland forces, Galmudug forces and police, federal and state gendarmes, and clan militias¹⁴
2022	Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), Puntland forces and police, Jubaland forces, Galmudug forces and police, Hirshabelle police, and clan militias¹⁵
2023	Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), Jubaland forces, Puntland forces and police, Galmudug forces and police, and the National Intelligence and Security Agency¹⁶
2024	Somali National Army (SNA), Somali National Police (SPF), Jubaland forces, Puntland forces, Hirshabelle police, and the National Intelligence and Security Agency¹⁷

By 2011, the government of Somalia began screening SNA soldiers to identify children in the army’s ranks.¹⁸ The next year, it signed a UN Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children by the SNA.¹⁹ In 2019, the government undertook a process of biometric registration to detect and deter child soldier recruitment in its armed forces – though following an initial year of implementation the system has not been much utilized – and launched public awareness campaigns in coordination with international organizations to raise awareness of child protection issues.²⁰ In recent years, the government has continued to implement its 2012 action plan, conduct training and awareness-raising campaigns, and screen military personnel to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers.²¹ Between April 2022 and March 2024, the government reportedly screened 5,036 SNA personnel and identified and referred to care five child soldiers among their ranks.²² In 2024 the government continued to regularly convene national and regional-level children and armed conflict working groups to strengthen efforts to prevent recruitment and use.²³ However, corruption, official complicity, instability, and the government’s inconsistent command and control of SNA forces has continued to hamper efforts to address the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in child soldiering offenses.²⁴

Since 2021, U.S. presidents have been required to include justifications for CSPA waivers that were issued during the previous year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Somalia’s 2020 and 2021 waiver justifications maintain that “[t]he waiver for IMET assistance will support the professionalization of the Somali military. This assistance enables the U.S. government to continue to fulfill its goal of assisting the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to build effective and rights-respecting security forces, which are indispensable to achieving greater military effectiveness. The waiver for PKO assistance, used in assisting efforts to form broad-based, multi-clan Somali security forces, will also support this goal. Further, a waiver for support provided by the Department of Defense pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 333 will allow for U.S. government assistance to build the Somali military’s capacity to conduct effective, sustained counterterrorism operations against al-Shabaab and, through cooperation, help reinforce U.S. values including those related to preventing and responding to the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers.”²⁵ Similar language was included in the 2022 and 2023 waiver justifications for Somalia.²⁶

For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report and 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. More information on the situation in Somalia can also be found in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 annual report on Children and Armed Conflict and 2022 country-specific report on Somalia.

Explore the Data

Country- and program-level data on the number and type of national interest waivers granted, as well as the amount of arms sales and military assistance waived.

Amounts

Waivers

Amounts

Waivers