Somalia Completes First Legal Internship for 34 Women Lawyers

Thirty-four women lawyers complete Somalia's first national legal empowerment internship, boosting female representation across courts and prosecution services.

Thirty-four women law graduates finished a five-month national legal empowerment internship in Mogadishu, marking the completion of the first cohort under a broader government initiative running until May 2027.

The program aims to address historical gender disparities within Somalia’s justice sector by building a professional pipeline for women in courts, prosecution services, and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. International partners, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the Netherlands, support the initiative alongside federal and state judicial representatives.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Faysal Adan Hassan, stated that candidates were selected through a nationwide open competition for recent law graduates, evaluated strictly on merit. The participants were then placed across various judicial branches based on their individual career paths, ranging from legislative drafting to advocacy and court administration.