Somalia links green development to human rights at global forum

Mohamed Osman Naastaro, Somalia’s state minister for family and human rights development, told the 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance on Friday that resilience and sustainability are central to his country’s path forward.

Marking the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development, the two-day event, which opened on Thursday, focuses on advancing human rights through development and will foster discussions on global human rights governance issues. Over 400 participants from over 100 countries and international organizations, including the United Nations (UN) were in attendance.

“For Somalia, the path to progress is unique. We are a nation built on the resiliency of our people, a people who have faced hardship with incredible strength. Today I wish to speak on the vital link between green development and the protection of human rights. In Somalia’s context, green development is not a choice, it is a fundamental human right and necessity for our future,” he said.

The state minister emphasized that Somalia’s vision of green development goes beyond policy, framing it as a fundamental human right tied directly to livelihoods, dignity, and the future of its people.

“Green development in Somalia means shifting from emergency aid to long-term resilience. We are proud of new initiatives such as the Activating Climate-Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods in Somalia (ACALS) program. This project is a clear example of our commitment to our people. By investing in drought-resistant crops, moderation, irrigation, and better water management, this program gives our farmers and our pastoralists the tools to stand on their own feet. This especially prioritizes the empowerment of our youth and women training traditional farming into sustainable business. For us, green development is the right to work, the right to feed one’s family, and the right to live in clean, healthy environment. We are transforming our traditional knowledge of the land into modern sustainable solutions that protect the rights of the next generation,” said Naastaro.

Chinese stocks closed higher on Friday, mainly led by optimism over the Middle East situation and strong performances of gold stocks, market analyst Timothy Pope said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index increasing 1.12 percent to 4,031.51 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.75 percent higher at 14,963.41 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices reached 3.24 trillion yuan (about 476 billion U.S. dollars), up from 2.55 trillion yuan on the previous trading day.

In market trading, non-ferrous metals, commercial aerospace, and power grid equipment shares were among the top gainers, while industrial gas and glass substrates sectors led the declines.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China’s Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.5 percent to close at 3,830.35 points.

Pope said the gains in the Chinese shares came partly from the positive global oil market provoked by US President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding the war with Iran.

“Chinese mainland stock markets actually saw their first weekly gain in a month, with the Shanghai Composite Index up marginally on last Friday’s close. Today the index was up 1.1 percent while the Shenzhen Component rose three quarters of one percent. There’s renewed optimism, I have just been hearing over a potential peace deal between the US and Iran after comments by Donald Trump. But it is important to point out that he’s made these sorts of statements before and it’s come to nothing, but this time it did provoke another strong reaction from equity and oil markets,” he said.

Pope said apart from the strong performance of sectors such as gold, the market gain linked with the recent move of U.S. tech giant Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX).

SpaceX has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 135 U.S. dollars per share and raised 75 billion dollars through the sale of about 555.56 million shares, U.S. media reported Thursday.

“We also saw some flow on effects for gold stocks, gold prices were impacted and those were among the best performing and most popular stocks on the Chinese mainland. Today Zijin Mining Group adding 6.4 percent and the big financial institutions gaining as well. But we also saw investors hunting for proxies on the SpaceX IPO, which was true for the whole week. This is an interesting case because it’s been widely reported now that SpaceX made a decision to exclude Chinese mainland and Hong Kong investors from the offering. The roadshow and IPO websites were not accessible on the Chinese mainland or in Hong Kong, reportedly at SpaceX’s insistence. This is apparently the first time this has happened, and it’s extra significant because this is going to be the biggest IPO the world has ever seen. So today we saw a hunt for stocks that might give Chinese investors some secondhand exposure to SpaceX,” he said.