A/HRC/12/44 page 16 V. HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOMALILAND 69. In Somaliland, the situation remained more or less stable during the reporting period. The decision by the President and the House of Elders to postpone elections in March 2009 provoked protests, and the Government responded with arbitrary arrests and the banning of demonstrations. These raised concerns with regard to the freedom of association, assembly and expression. Through negotiation and reconciliation, a peaceful settlement between the opposition and the Government was reached by mid-year regarding the elections, but the situation deteriorated once more and subsequent developments led to the dissolution of the agreement and a further postponement of the elections, which are now due in September 2009. 70. Sexual violence, including a rise in the number of reported cases of gang rape of teenage girls (and younger), has been reported. A total of 11 cases of rape were reported by UNICEF monitors in the camps for internally displaced persons in Puntland in May alone, and 13 were reported in Somaliland. Some cases involved mentally and physically handicapped children and boys. Beside the brutality often employed, the most disturbing aspect of these cases was the near-universal impunity for perpetrators. Most cases were unreported, and when they were, they were most often settled by clan resolution, involving no direct punishment of the perpetrator. In 2008, in the Hargeisa regional court, only 12 cases of rape resulted in a conviction. 71. Female genital mutilation is almost universally prevalent in Somalia. UNICEF supports community development processes in all zones to seek the collective abandonment of this harmful practice. Simultaneously, UNICEF is working with religious leaders from the Sudan and universities in Puntland and Somaliland to bring about a change in attitude of the Islamic hierarchy in Somalia, towards the prohibition of female genital mutilation. UNICEF has also supported a zero-tolerance policy development with the Ministry of Family Affairs in both Somaliland and Puntland. VI. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE SOMALI CRISIS 72. During his trip to Somaliland and Puntland, it occurred to the independent expert that, while Mogadishu largely remains out of bounds, there are other areas in Somalia where initiatives could be taken in relation to, among other things, some basic economic, social and cultural rights of the people, far removed from the war zones. 73. As stated above, the independent expert believes that, despite the recent upsurge in violence, the prospects for a resolution of the long-standing crisis in Somalia have improved in recent months. The Somali crisis has run its full course and some light can be seen at the end of the tunnel. 74. After having talked with Somalis from all walks of life, including many who most recently left war-ravaged areas of Somalia, the independent expert is convinced that the support many people had for the opposition before the change of Government and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in late December 2008 has eroded significantly. The decision on 18 April by the new Parliament to introduce sharia law in the country has weakened the hard-line Islamist opposition, which had made this an important platform of its policy. The strict interpretation of sharia law and the imposition of extremely harsh justice and restrictions on some social practices in areas under the opposition’s control are resented by the people, who have long been used to a more