Human Rights & Advocacy

ADAM was mandated to advocate for minority communities to enjoy their rights on the same terms as every other Somaliland citizen. That means both defending individuals in specific cases and challenging the practices that produce those cases in the first place.

Why this matters

Ethnic-based discrimination pushes minority communities to the margins socially, economically, politically and educationally, and in some cases deprives them of basic rights altogether. A person who does not know their rights, cannot afford a lawyer and does not expect a fair hearing will not bring a case — and the pattern continues unrecorded.

What we do

• Legal awareness sessions so people know their rights and how to claim them.
• Access-to-justice support: case referral, paralegal assistance and links to legal aid providers.
• Documentation and reporting of discrimination and rights violations against minority citizens.
• Public debates and forums bringing minority citizens together with justice-sector institutions.
• Advocacy with government, parliament and international bodies for equal protection in law and practice.
• Work grounded in international human rights standards, including the UDHR and the two International Covenants.

How we work

We combine casework with evidence. Individual cases are supported and, with consent, documented; the documentation then becomes the basis for advocacy with institutions and for coalition work with national human rights bodies and civil society networks.