COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: October 2025
This profile refers to both partners involved in mixed marriages. It does not refer to children born under these marriages or members of the extended family.
The analysis below is based on the following EUAA COI reports: Country Focus 2025, 1.4.5.; Targeting 2021, 4.5.; Country Guidance should not be referred to as a source of COI.
Step 1: Do the reported acts amount to persecution?
Some acts to which individuals in mixed marriages could be exposed are of such severe nature that they would amount to persecution. More specifically, intermarriage between majority and some minority groups is not accepted and may for some clans create violent conflicts between the families involved. For example, if a man from the Gabooye or Somali Bantu/Jareer marries a woman from a majority clan, this typically produces major conflict. Normally, the family of the woman rejects such a marriage. Her relatives can even threaten or attack the (prospective) husband and/or his family.
The severity and/or repetitiveness of other acts that individuals in mixed marriages could be subjected to and whether they occur as an accumulation of various measures, should be considered. More specifically, if a man from a dominant clan marries a Gabooye or Somali Bantu/Jareer woman, his own family may disapprove, and his children will likely be insulted.
Step 2: What is the level of risk of persecution?
The individual assessment of whether there is a reasonable degree of likelihood for individuals in mixed marriages, in the whole of Somalia, including South-Central Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland, to face persecution should take into account risk-impacting circumstances, such as:
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Gender: It is most problematic if a man belonging to a minority group marries a woman from a majority group. According to the patrilineal logic of belonging, the children from this marriage would then belong to the minority group, which the relatives of the mother would see as a ‘downgrade’. The family of a man coming from a dominant clan would disapprove the intermarriage with a woman from a minority clan.
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Specific minority group to which the applicant belongs: Intermarriage between majority and minority groups like Ashraf, Sheikhal and most Benadiri groups is accepted, while it is generally not accepted if the minority group is Gabooye and Somali Bantu/Jareer, Madhibaan, Muse Diriye, Tumal, Yibir, Yahar, Eyle. Rahanweyn and members of other majority groups do intermarry. Majeerteen and Gabooye (especially Madhibaan) do not normally intermarry in Puntland.
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Home area and local clan dynamics: In Al-Shabaab controlled areas, intermarriages between majority and minority groups happen more frequently. Majority group members in Mogadishu and surroundings marry especially women from Benadiri groups. Particularly in the north, in Somaliland, marriages between occupational minorities and majority groups happen rarely, especially if the man comes from a minority group. Majeerteen and Gabooye (especially Madhibaan) do not normally intermarry in Puntland.
Step 3: Is there a ground for persecution?
Where well-founded fear of persecution is substantiated, for an applicant under this profile, this is highly likely to be for reasons of race/nationality. Persecution of individuals in mixed marriages may also be for reasons of membership of a particular social group, based on a common background which cannot be changed (entering in a mixed marriage) and distinct identity in Somalia, as they are perceived as different in the Somali society.