[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] said Thursday that human rights violations committed during recent Somalian conflicts may amount to war crimes [press release]. Pillay said that ongoing violence between Islamist rebels and the newly-formed government has resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, despite a peace accord signed last year. Pillay's office reported that the rebel groups, Al-Shabab [Economist backgrounder] and Hisb-ul-Islam, have carried out extrajudicial executions, planted explosives in civilian areas and used civilians as shields. Both rebel and government fighters have allegedly used torture, indiscriminately fired mortars into civilian-populated areas and recruited child soldiers. Calling for the violence to stop, Pillay said perpetrators should be held responsible:

There needs to be a much greater effort to protect civilians. Displaced people and human rights defenders, aid workers and journalists are among those most exposed, and in some cases are being directly targeted. ... The gathering of evidence, by all who are in a position to do so, has to continue so that those committing these terrible crimes in Somalia will one day receive their due punishment before a court of law, and their victims will finally see justice being done.