Fourth session of the Forum on Minority Issues “Guaranteeing the rights of minority women” Geneva, 29-30 November 2011 “A crucial step towards full citizenship of minority women: Effective participation in economic, social, and cultural life” Mariam Yassin Hagi Yussuf Ladies and Gentlemen, It is our honor as IIDA Women’s Development Organization to participate in the fourth session of the Forum on Minority Issues. IIDA, is a not-for-profit making NGO, which has been operating in all regions of Somalia since 1991. An organization that said NO to discrimination in Somalia and that from its origins had an equal participation between minority and majority women. My presentation will focus on challenges as well as recommendations. I will focus mainly on the situation on Somali’s neglected minorities, specifically focusing on the situation of minority women in conflict situation. I will also talk about the Women’s Rights in Islam, as recommendation, I will prove how minority women from Muslim background can enhance their rights and status by utilizing the Holy Quran to make their rights respected. In Somalia, minorities are communities discriminated against on the basis of their clan, ethnic affiliation, and culture and tradition. Somali minority groups include Bantu, Somali of Arab origin and other Somali Minority clan. Minorities in Somalia are also abusively defined as “persons that no one will weep for when they die”.