A/HRC/21/61 were reported to the police owing to the perceived futility of reporting, stigma or fear of retaliation. Few victims sought medical attention because of the costs involved. The Transitional Federal Government established a task force on violence against women, and the United Nations was supported the Government in implementing measures to prevent and respond to the phenomenon. 68. Sexual exploitation and abuse by AMISOM was also reported, in spite of their prohibition by the AMISOM Code of Conduct. To prevent and respond to this phenomenon adequately, AMISOM should develop its engagement with the local population and strengthen its prevention and response mechanisms. The Independent Expert was informed that AMISOM lacked public information and an awareness strategy, an external reporting system and a victim assistance programme. In view of the authorized increase of troops to 17,000, these gaps should now be addressed. E. Protection of children 69. The Independent Expert was informed that the United Nations was continuing its efforts to address violations of children’s rights in Somalia. The country task force on monitoring and reporting, created in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), continued to document cases of grave violations in this regard. Of particular concern was a pattern of children being increasingly caught in direct attacks and crossfire owing to the intensification of military activities against Al–Shabaab. 70. The Independent Expert further learnt that the country task force was following up on the commitments made by the Government during the visit of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict in 2010. On 7 January 2012, the Government announced the introduction of strict measures to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers. It also expressed its readiness to enter into dialogue for the preparation and implementation of time-bound plans of action within the framework of Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009). 71. At a workshop held on 6 and 7 March in Mogadishu and organized by the Transitional Federal Government and the United Nations, a draft plan of action was adopted for the release and re-integration of child soldiers from Government armed forces. 72. At the margins of the meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia, held in Rome on 2 and 3 July 2012, the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, Hussein Arab Isse, signed a plan of action to end the recruitment and use of children by the Somali National Armed Forces. Concrete steps should be taken by the Government of Somalia to ensure a child-free national army. 73. The positive developments on the Government side were, however, overshadowed by reports that Al-Shabaab militants were forcibly recruiting children. According to reports, the Al-Shabaab militia in Galguduud region took approximately 100 children, aged 12 years and younger, and had sent them to Koranic schools, where they were reportedly taught about jihad and nothing else. According to local residents, when the children returned home, they recited jihad poems and abused those who fought Al-Shabaab. It was, however, reported that, in recent months, Al-Shabaab had lost control of many towns in the Galguduud region. 74. The situation of juveniles in detention centres in Somaliland remained a matter of concern. An assessment conducted in August 2011 by the Ministry of Justice of Somaliland found that, of a total of 104 children in prison at the time, 10 per cent were female. A total of 59 per cent of all children in prisons were convicted by courts mainly for rape, drug possession and gang-related offences, as well as for other minor offences, while the remaining 41 per cent were on remand. The assessment concluded that the juvenile justice 13