With the completion of all
constitutional steps, the division of Yemen into two separate states had
ended for good. Since then, the Yemeni people began to aspire for
socio-economic development and unity building and significant progress
toward democracy, promoting Human Rights principles, ensuring women's
participation in political, economical, and social life has been made.
The tangible achievements have been realized under the guidance of His
Excellency the President of the Republic Ali Abdullah Saleh and attributed
to the sincere efforts and the hard work of this proud nation.
Yemen has the honor of being the first country in the Arabian Peninsula
to:
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Give women the right to vote
- Have elected women as Members of Parliament
- Appoint a woman as Minister for Human Rights
- Appoint a woman as an Ambassador to Holland
- Establish the National Supreme Committee for Human Rights headed by the
. Yemeni Prime Minister
- Establish the Ministry for Human Rights headed by a woman Minister
- Establish the Supreme Committee for the National elections, the first
independent elections body in the Middle East.
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Over the past decade, the Yemeni Government has continued to demonstrate
its commitment to democracy. In 1990, following the unification, a
multi-party political system was established and in 1993 an independent
electoral commission was formed.
Updates:
The section below will be updated regularly with
new information on Democracy, Humans Rights and Women's Issues in Yemen.
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2008-03-31 :: Yemen makes progress in girls’ education with UNICEF-supported literacy programmes | (© UNICEF Yemen/2008/ Sanabani )-
UNICEF Regional Director Sigrid Kaag (left) talks to girls in a school in Sanhan District, Yemen. Many of the girls are the first from their village to get into a UNICEF-supported literacy programme.
By Naseem-Ur Rehman
SANA’A, Yemen, 31 March 2008 – Umm Nooruddin, mother of three, is among the first generation of women in her village to get a second chance at learning to read. She is one of 35 young women in Sanhan District, on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, who are taking part in a UNICEF-supported literacy class.
Ms. Nooruddin is the pride of her class. Recently, she drew instant applause from her classmates as she read a quarter of a page without stopping, reflecting her newly acquired skill.
“The most precious support comes from grandparents who babysit my three children for my time in literacy class,” said Ms. Nooruddin.
Through modest, practical efforts on the ground, UNICEF is encouraging literacy in a conservative setting where girls’ education has been lagging for years. Across the country, girls’ primary school enrolment is around 60 per cent. This national figure masks a huge disparity, however, as remote villages remain far behind.
A new story of literacy
Sanhan is one of five districts where girls’ education is making headway with strong community participation. The initiative has brought together, with UNICEF support, the education authorities and a leading non-governmental organization.
With 50 literacy centres in the district, more than 2,000 young girls and women are learning to read and write through this pioneering effort. For girls and women who missed out on going to school, the impact of the literacy classes is transcendant.
© UNICEF Yemen/2008/ Sanabani
Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Mujawar discusses issues of girls’ educational development with UNICEF Regional Director Sigrid Kaag.
The idea of girls’ education is gaining community acceptance. Over a period of one year, the number of girls enrolled in primary schools is over 14,000 – representing a 29 per cent increase in enrolment.
Coming together for education
In the quiet village of Mahal Masood, scores of girls are writing the new story of female literacy.
Different generations are coming together to support girls’ education, drawing on the tradition of a strong-knit family. Here, the enrolment and retention statistics for girls have increased by 40 per cent over a period of two years.
A strong national consensus is emerging in Yemen to put children's issues at the centre of the agenda. A three-day visit to Mahal Masood by UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Sigrid Kaag also sparked a renewed zeal in the country to do more for children and women.
The advancement in the village was applauded by Ms. Kaag during a visit to the local literacy centre. Proficient in Arabic, she was able to to drive home the message on the importance of girls’ education.
Government commitment
The Yemeni Prime Minister, Ali Muhammad Mujawar, has already given his commitment to push ahead on progress for children and women.
In many areas, the acceleration of girls’ education hinges on getting female teachers on board to meet community demand. A quick response to this issue came as the Minister of Finance recently put the government’s seal of approval on the recruitment of female teachers.
“Girls must get education,” said Ms. Nooruddin, the young mother from Sanhan District. “We do not want our children to suffer the way we did.”
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2008-03-29 :: Hadramout workshop promotes political participation of women | (Yemen Observer)-
Participants of a recent workshop learn to involve women in politics.
The women’s movement in Yemen and women’s organizations worked to support the active participation of females in the elections of 2006 and politics in general. Many workshops and forums were organized with this goal towards women’s issues and to help them reach the ranks of Parliament and play a serious role in their country’s political arena.
Recently, a workshop, organized by various civil society organizations focused on women’s issues, was held in al-Kukala of Hadramout. Over 20 participants and trainers attended, holding such training sessions that were oriented on ways and strategies to support women’s issues. The result of this workshop was to create a forum to support women’s issues and facilitate their participation in the upcoming elections of 2009.
President Salah, among others, have expressed support in a quota system that would guarantee women 15 percent of the seats in Parliament. However, opponents to this system argue that its introduction would require a major legislative effort and prefer the status quo, yet a study completed by Khaled al-Anesi, executive director of the National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms (HOOD), found that the quota system could be enacted without major changes to the law.
Approximately 42 percent of Yemeni women, nearly four million, are registered voters, but even with such a number of voting women, the elections of 2006 saw little women elected or even candidates to political positions. Of the several thousand local council seats to be elected, only a few dozen women were accepted as candidates and even fewer elected.
The Deputy Governor of Hadramout, Awadh Abdullah, praised awareness programs such as this workshop that aim to participation in women’s issues and strengthen their political role. He said that the local authority is ready to provide civil society organizations with the facilities to enable them to do their social duty in the best way possible.
Reem Radman, the organizer of the training workshop, talked about the strategies of the workshop and how it aims to support women so that they can seriously participate in 2009 elections. She said that programs have been held since December 2007 that target many different governorates, including Dhamar, al-Kukala and Taiz. Members of civil society organizations from these governorates are trained and encouraged to form a team within their organizations to promote participation or women. She also added that a team of lawyers and those interested in law will also be formed to formulate law strategies during the training and the supporting campaign.
At a political workshop, participants had an oppurtunity to question a panel of experts.
In the opening seminar of the workshop, participants talked about how the number of women nominees has decreased, while the number of women voters has risen. They placed an emphasis on including a quota system in Yemeni law in order to be sure of the participation of women in elections and enable them to reach Parliament.
Following the introduction, the next activity of this program was a training course for people interested in supporting women’s issue in Sana’a. It resulted it the establishment of a forum consisting of ten organizations, as well as the formation of a team of lawyers, including Khalid al-Ansi and others.
Dr. Raufa Hassan, executive director of the Cultural Development Planning Foundation, gave speeches about the significance of civil society organizations working together in order to reach their goal of increasing women’s participation in the upcoming election.
Abdullah Ba Wazir, the director of the services committee in the Al-Kukala local council, spoke about the importance of supporting women in all fields and how they can reach the highest ranks if encouraged.
Dr. Ahmed Ba Mashmus, the director of Hadramout University, agreed with Ba Wazir, adding that women should not only be voters who put men in the Parliament, but they should also take part in the elections as candidates themselves.
At the end of the workshop, participants considered themselves the creators of the forum, with a firm goal to raise the participation of women in politics. They formed two teams with this goal in mind; one within their organizations, and the other covering the governorates.
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2008-01-30 :: test | | ()- test |
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2005-06-20 :: Enhancing women's legal status | (yementimes)- Nowadays most of countries tend to review their laws and regulations and modify them to meet with the international conventions related to women. Yemen is among these countries that have modified some discriminative laws against woman to get together with the international conventions the Yemen has ratified.
In this regard, under patronage of Sheikh Abduallah Bin Hussein AL-Ahmer, speaker of parliament, coordinating with the rights and freedoms committee of parliament, the Women National Committee (WNC) along with UNFPA held on Tuesday 14 June a workshop entitled "Enhancing the Women' Legal Status".
The aim of the workshop was to display the National Strategy of Woman Development (Gender) for 2006-2015 as well as present some laws that should be modified.
Sheikh Al-Ahmar, who headed the discussion, said "Woman have the right to be the partner with man in all fields as she is the mother, wife, sister and daughter. It is not acceptable to marginalize and shun her or ignore her key participation in the social life. Our constitution allows the woman to take part in all the activities of society and encourages her to present and work."
AL-Ahmer further said "We are with any modification that women claim but it should be within the Islamic Sharee’a (laws and regulations). The woman existence is very essential in all fields and the educated woman is better than the illiterate one for a better generation and future."
Ms. Rashida AL-Hamadani, the head of WNC started "This workshop is gathering the parliament and the Woman National Committee with the aim to have agreements on crucial issues in enhancing the woman role in development. The WNC has started reviewing the constitutions laws since 2002 by forming a team to assess 58 regulations and they have found that 20 law in nationality, prisons, civic states, and civic records need modification. However, only 5 medications were approved. Then for the second time we have found other 12 laws which need to be modified besides the previous 15. So today we will let the modification projects between your hands to discuss them and you will figure out that they are basic needs for Yemeni woman to ensure fair and justice rights to enable her to strongly take part in the society."
Ms. Houria Mashhor, the deputy of WNC, displayed the National Strategy of Woman Development and shed light on the six goals of the strategy that represent in provide the basic education for all by 2015 to reduce the illiteracy among woman. Besides, expanding the job opportunities for women to get all the necessary health care. In addition reduce the rate of poor women into a half and try to empower her economically as well as raise the level of woman participation quality and quantity in all decision-making to represent women issues. Furthermore facilitate the ways for woman to practice her rights within the international and national conventions. Finally expanding and enhancing the woman participation and role in media and technology and communication field to promote the women concerns.
On the other part, Ms. Fatihia Abdul Wasea, a lawyer, presented the most important modified laws.
Mr. Alexander Ellen, the UNFPA representative, commented on the workshop "I would like to underline that despite of situation with status of women is improving, more could be done during the forthcoming years of introduction of the new 5-year national development plan which strongly connected with poverty reduction strategy and the Millennium Development Project for which Yemen is selected as the only country of the region."
He further said "Thanks to the recent initiative of the parliament, the new legislative acts under the way. The law on emergency safe motherhood could make a dramatic change in the status of women in Yemen through improving reproductive health and easing access to the birth spacing techniques and health care. Directly and indirectly such improvements would lead to broadening women's access to education, social life and decision making. |
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2005-06-07 :: Yemen, Saudi cooperation to combat children smuggling | | (yemetimes)- SANAA, June 07 (Nas Press) — Yemen and Saudi authorities have agreed to cooperate against smuggling of Yemeni children across the Saudi border. The Saudi daily al-Wattan said Saudi security authorities “have forged a thorough plan to make and end to human trade smuggling gangs across the border with Yemen and to fight the exploitations of women and children used by begging gangs in nine governorates.” Saudi Border Security Commander Colonel Abrahim al-Santalli said “the plan is being implemented with cooperation between the Saudi and Yemeni authorities,” adding “security cooperation agreements with Yemen stipulate that Saudi authorities hand over Yemeni children who are found with begging gangs so they can be returned to their parents in Yemen.” He stressed “combating the dangers of children and women smuggling gangs is backed up by border security forces,” adding “border security arrested 39,868 beggars including women and children in the past 30 days, and 199 smugglers were arrested along with 175 cars and an attempt to smuggle 17,868 bullets, 11 pieces of weapons, 2,500 dynamites, 2,400 primacord used in initiating dynamite explosions was foiled.” He disclosed “381 thousand Kg of Qat was confiscated, 40Kg of hashish, and 120 gallons of alcohol, 4609 heads of cattle and 403 thousand types of food were confiscated as well.” |
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2005-06-07 :: Further German contribution in UNDP Mine Action Program | (yementimes)- The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany is proud to announce that the Federal Government of Germany has just made available a contribution up to the total amount of 343.650 US$ for further implementation of the Mine Detection Dog Operations within the framework of the UNDP Mine Action Program in Yemen.
The money will be used for area reduction, clearance as well as quality assurance in medium mine affected communities in Yemen.
In total, since 2001, the German Government has supported this program with the sum of 3.8 million US$. |
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2005-02-15 :: Forum on democratization, development and human security | (yemen times)- Sana’a, 15 February 2005 (United Nations Information Centre): The Government of the Republic of Yemen, the Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat and the United Nations Development Programme, in cooperation with the Commission on Human Security, are organizing a Yemeni Forum on Democratization, Development and Human Security to be held in Sana’a on 21 – 23 February. This event is a follow-up to the discussions of the Inter-Governmental Regional Conference on Democracy, Human Rights and the Role of the International Criminal Court held in Sana’a on 10-12 January 2004.
The purpose of the Forum is to promote a better understanding of the achievements of Yemen in democratization, economic reform, human development and human security and the challenges it faces in these areas. This gathering will provide an opportunity to strengthen ties and collaboration between local and international partners and will be useful for enhancing multi-faceted economic cooperation with Yemen. It is expected that discussions at the Forum will further contribute to strengthening the environment of openness, modernization and democratization in Yemen.
The Forum will address the following three issues: (a) promoting democratic governance, advancing human rights and strengthening security: prospects and challenges; (b) social aspects of human security: meeting basic needs; (c) economic reform and meeting Millennium Development Goals: the way ahead. This event is envisaged as a round table discussion.
Approximately 150 participants are expected. Among those invited are Yemeni government officials, parliamentarians and other prominent political figures, representatives of civil society, community-based and religious organizations, diplomatic missions in Sana’a, UN agencies, the World Bank, the Organization of Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, the Council of the European Union, and international experts on Yemen. |
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2005-02-10 :: Yemen to close 4,000 religious schools | (yementimes.com)- The Yemeni government is set to close 4,000 religious schools allegedly run by “suspicious” organizations, an official has said.
According to a government school survey, some of the private schools are affiliated to scholars and political parties, said Yahia Al-Najjar, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Waqfs).
“It showed that many others were being supervised by foreign and local charities on suspicion of being funded by outsiders under the guise of beneficence,” Reuters quoted the official as having said.
The Yemeni government decided in 2004 to shut down non-governmental schools against a backdrop of bloody clashes between security forces and followers of rebel leader Hussein Badrudin Al-Houthi, who was killed along with dozens of his supporters in September.
Curricula
Najjar said a close scrutiny of curricula taught in these schools showed they preached violence and ran the risk of destabilizing society.
“The curricula include books written by hardliners and extremists – including Hussein Al-Houthi — who don’t tolerate the other,” he said.
The official further said a large number of foreign teachers did unpaid work for these schools.
“This, in fact, raises many question marks and the government decided to take it into consideration.”
The would-be closure seems part of a broader government’s policy aimed at cracking down on private religious education.
Minister of Education Abdel Salam Al-Jawfi vowed in October to shut down unofficial schools or place them under the government supervision.
In 2002, the government decided to oversee religious schools administratively and financially and merge their budgets into the ministry of education’s finances.
Yemeni authorities had temporarily closed Al-Iman University in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and asked its president Sheikh Abdel Majid Al-Zandani to expel 500 foreign students in line with the counter-terror policies.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been cooperating closely with Washington’s in its so-called global war on terror.
During a 2001 visit to the White House, he inked a security cooperation pact on tracking down Yemenis allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda.
Parliament Speaker Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmer has accused the US of using the “fighting terror” slogan as a thorn in the side of Arab and Islamic peoples.
Several Arab and Muslim countries have come under intense pressures from the Bush administration to change religious curricula viewed by Washington as stirring anti-American sentiments. |
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2005-02-10 :: Clerics banned from sermons | (yemen times)- Yemeni officials have banned 18 clerics from giving sermons in mosques to reduce sources of terrorism.
Deputy Islamic Affairs and Guidance Minister Yahyia al-Najjar issued a Sunday statement saying the decision was part of a government plan that also includes dispatching clerics to advocate awareness on balance, away from extremist and fundamentalist ideas, whether religious or political.
The official added the new plan will complete bringing all mosques and religious guidance centers under government supervision after it had taken control of most of the mosques that had been dominated by extremist political influences in the past years.
Al-Najjar said the plan included providing training to spiritual guides and clerics that focused on correcting the wrong ideas in religious Islamic texts.
A survey showed last year that the ministry supervised only 6,000 of 72,000 mosques, raising government concerns that clerics would continue to politicize religion and preach extremist beliefs. |
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2005-01-09 :: Yemeni-Saudi committee to face children smuggling | (mhryemen.org)- The Yemeni and Saudi governments are carrying out preparations for setting up a joint social affairs committee to deal with many social issues, the most important of which is the smuggling of Yemeni children to neighboring countries, social affairs source said.
Minister of Social Affairs Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi said in the first debate session on smuggling Yemeni children, organized on Saturday by senior Yemeni officials in coordination with UNICEF, that the Yemeni-Saudi joint committee was formed in the recent meetings of the Yemeni-Saudi Coordination Council.
Al-Arhabi said that the ministry started to set up schools in the areas of the phenomenon as an initial step to solve this dilemma.
He said that the ministry would work with the Parliament and Ministry of Human Rights to put decisive laws against children traffickers and all people involved.
Minister of human rights Amat al-Aleem al-Soswa, representative of UNICEF and head of Freedoms Committee in the Parliament expressed worry for the increasing of this phenomenon, asking for solving the poverty problem in the country and continuous contact with neighboring governments to find suitable solutions. |
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2004-12-15 :: Conference stresses need for reform in Middle Eastern societies | (dailystar.com.lb)- SANAA: Women from Arab countries gathered over the weekend for the First Democratic Forum of Arab Women to discuss the importance of women's political participation in political reforms in the Arab World.
Amal Basha, Chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF), which organized the conference, described Saturday's event as a "scream" to the Arab regimes for the need to change and to involve women in decision-making.
The three-day long forum, organized under the framework of Beijing +10 with Yemen's Human Rights Ministry and The Netherlands, aims at countries in the region benefiting from each other's experiences to push for women's involvement in politics.
About 70 participants from the Middle East and Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Lebanon, Somalia and Iraq, presented their countries' practices and progress made in women's political empowerment. They include leaders of women's movements, human rights activists, and members of the civil society.
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2004-12-13 :: Final Declaration of the First Democratic Forum of Arab Women | ()- Arab social movements - including women’s movement- had been and are calling long time ago for political reforms in the Arab region. Such calls have been always nationally motivated and stemmed from scanning the reality of the Arab political regimes characterized by lack of democracy which involves women’s poor political participation.
Based on that and within the UN preparation for the international conference “ Beijing +10” in March 2005, which will discuss precisely progress achieved in the area of women participation in power and decision making positions, Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights held the First Democratic Forum for Arab Women titled “Women Political Empowerment is a Necessary Step Towards Political Reform in Arab World”, under the patronage of Ms. Amat Al-Alim Al-Sosouwa- Human Rights Minister- Yemen, attended by 72 representing Arab women movement, human rights activists and civil society organizations in 18 Arab countries.
The opening session was attended by a number of senior officials, diplomatic reprehensive, parliamentarians, members of Consultative Council, civil society, political parties, local and international media. The statements in the opening ceremony addressed the challenges of Arab women’s political empowerment and democratic reform issues in general.
Following the inauguration, regional papers outlining the reality of women political participation and its wide range political, cultural, social, legal and economic constraints and challenges in each country were presented.
Later on three workshops were held focusing on the following themes:
- Political challenges
- Social and cultural challenges
- Legislative challenges
The presentation of the reports of the three workshops was followed by intensive discussion led to the following conclusions:
-Absence and weakness of democracy in the Arab ruling regimes and lack of democratic norms in some others.
-Non respect of human rights in its universality.
-Absence of political stability in the Arab region for various reasons such as occupation, civil conflicts, quos, negative impacts of globalization and domination of a unilateral pole.
-Domination of patriotic culture and division of roles and responsibilities based on gender inequality and women’s inferiority.
-Weakness of advocacy and lobbying for women’s rights in Arab societies.
-Spread of female’s illiteracy especially in rural areas.
-Gender inequality in access to education in some Arab countries.
-Ill - education and negative role of media in presenting a stereotype role for women.
-Manipulation of conservative religious political discourse which aims to undermine women’s participation in public life specifically the political sphere.
-Poor economies and spread of poverty particularly between women.
-Some discriminatory constitutional and legal texts which deny women’s political rights in some Arab countries.
-Lack of harmony in the legislative structure of some Arab countries where their constitutions stipulate equality principles, some of in-forced laws include discriminative texts against women such as personal law, nationality law and penalty law.
-The election laws in –forced in Arab countries are impairing for women political empowerment and getting them in equal percentage to parliaments and legislative councils.
-Some Arab countries have not ratified CEDAW and its optional protocol while some have some reservations on a number of articles which make the convention meaningless.
-Incompatibility of national legislations with international agreement which been ratified and lack of commitments.
After serious discussion for all issues, the participants reached the following recommendations and solutions:
-The necessity for political reform in Arab regimes and activating the principles of law’s domination, separation of powers, peaceful handover of power, pluralism, freedom of expression and public freedom.
-Adaptation of positive intervention for women’s interests through approving quota system with 30% as a minimum till 2010 in decision making positions in legislative, juridical, executive powers and political parties.
-Removal of all discrimination against women in all national constitutions and laws, ensure adequacy with international agreements and commit their implementation.
-Call Arab countries who have not ratified CEDAW yet to ratify it and remove reservations.
-Involvement of women and women’s organizations in drafting and reviewing laws.
-Amendments of election laws according to quota system to ensure a wide representation of women.
-Develop sectoral strategies and spread of human rights education.
-Adopt a supportive media policy for woman’s role in political life.
-Importance of education, girl’s education, application of compulsory and free school enrollment and adult education particularly for women and in rural areas.
-Amend curriculum to include human rights principles and international laws.
-Training and raising political and rights awareness and eradicate women’s legal illiteracy.
-Organize capacity building and training programmes for women candidates for election on campaigning, communication and support women parliamentarians to upgrade their work methods.
-Financial support and establishment of funds to support women candidates.
-Activate women’s organizations and human rights organizations roles and support women political empowerment programmes.
-Lobby with organizations against the negative globalization and domination of unilateral pole.
-Lobby with social movements and enlightened religious trend to push women political participation forward.
-Invite Arab countries to ratify Rome Statute for International Criminal Court to stop violations for human rights during peace and war time and present war and humanitarian crimes especially in Arab countries under occupation in Palestine and Iraq.
-Held the second Democratic Forum in two years time to exchange information and experience and evaluate progress achieved after “ Beijing +10”.
Adopted by First Democratic Forum for Arab Women by Consensus
Sana’a – Yemen
13 December 2004
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2004-12-13 :: Arab Women’s Forum | (yementimes.com)- The first democratic forum of Arab women concluded its activities at the Sheraton Sana’a Hotel on Dec. 13 2004. The women who participated in the forum met with the President of the Republic who highly appreciated holding the forum confirming the higher position attained by Yemeni woman in all democratic issues as well as all decisions and recommendations thanking the Yemeni participants who organized for the forum.
The forum was organized from by the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF) under the patronage of Amat Al-Aleem Al-Souswa, Minister of Human Rights, operating under the slogan that “women’s empowerment is necessary step for political reform in the Arab world.”
The forum held several sessions and workshops examining political, legislative, cultural, and social challenges for women in the Arab world.
The opening celebration was attended by al-Souswa, Netherlands Ambassador Johan F.L. Blankenberg, head of SAF Amal Al-Basha, and a number of personalities and journalists interested in human rights issues. After reciting some verses from the Holy Qura’an, Amal Al-Basha initiated the celebration commenting on the ambitions and all Arab women regarding their rights in participation in decision-making positions.
Khadijah al-Roukani spoke after that about the Moroccan experiences in women’s rights. Khadijah Habashinah presented a clear picture about the situation of women in Palestine. Johan F. L. Blankenberg delivered his speech showing the audience the serious support of Holland for issues of human rights in general and women rights in particular. He reinforced that despite being in its infancy, Yemen has made significant progress. |
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2004-12-12 :: VITAL LEADERS OF THE GULF REGION | (vitalvoices.org)- Vital Voices Global Partnership has launched its Women’s Leadership Initiative in the Middle East and Afghanistan (WLIMEA) program with an intensive training in Sana’a for women leaders from the Gulf and Yemen. Developed in coordination with the Yemeni Minister of Human Rights, Amat al-Aleem AlSosswa, and the Women’s National Committee, this training joined 30 women leaders from Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Oman to discuss challenges and successes, exchange information, and build strategic relationships while gaining needed skills in negotiations, strategic planning, leadership, and communications
Status of Women in the Region
Participants were also asked to make presentations on topics related to the status of women in their countries. Iraqi women discussed women and conflict. Participants from Oman identified challenges facing Omani women, while the participants from Saudi Arabia discussed women’s slowly emerging roles in business and civil society.
In sessions on strategic planning, participants worked in groups across country lines to develop a five-year strategic plan for a hypothetical organization focused on women’s issues. The women presented plans that were critiqued and discussed by a panel as well as by the larger group. Such interactive work served as the model for the subsequent training sessions on leadership, negotiations and communic
Creating a Regional Network
During the lively concluding discussion, participants initiated plans and requested Vital Voices assistance to create a regional network to assure that the women remain in close communications with each other and with Vital Voices. They nominated representatives from each country to take lead responsibility for continued information sharing. Some of the women, particularly the participants from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, urgently requested additional training. Participants from Yemen and Oman reconfirmed their needs to continue work started with Vital Voices in recent years.
National and Regional Attention and Coverage
The program received wide media coverage, including by Kuwaiti Satellite television, which interviewed Jenin Assaf, Vital Voices Program Director of the Middle East and Afghanistan, covered portions of the training, and interviewed a participant from Kuwait. In addition, Yemeni and Al-Jazeera satellite television reported on this women’s leadership program, discussing its objectives in detail. Speaking in Arabic to regional and national print journalists, Ms. Assaf highlighted the achievements and obstacles facing women leaders in the Arab world in general and the Gulf region in particular. Upon hearing about the initiative, the President of Yemen, H.E. Ali Abdullah Saleh invited the participants and trainers to his offices to learn more about the Vital Voices program and pledge his support for the advancement of women in his country.
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2004-06-20 :: Sana’a Conference for religious men and intellectuals | (yementimes.com)- The First Islamic Guidance Conference was inaugurated in the presence of about 270 official dignitaries, religious figures, intellectuals and interested individuals from all over the world in the field of guidance.
The four-day conference, organized by the Ministry for Waqf and Guidance, will examine before a number of working papers and discuss the most important issues related to the life of the Muslim community. The conference aims to clarify the misunderstandings and debates that have emerged in some Muslim societies.
Among the issues to be discussed are Jihad in Islam, the role of religious men in directing society and reviving the message of mosques, denouncing extremism and fanaticism, the issuing of Fatwas (formal legal opinions), and other essential issues in this era, which is burdened with unprecedented challenges.
A number of optimists predict that the conference will come out with positive results, to improve the message of mosques, and to show the bright side of Islam. It is hoped that the conference will produce a number of recommendations to benefit Muslim communities in Muslim countries and abroad and in crystallizing the Islamic and religious dialogue in a manner relevant to the reality of the world today.
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2004-05-17 :: Al-Soswa among the Vital Voices of the world | (yementimes.com)- Amat Al-Aleem Al-Susuwa Yemeni Minister of Human Rights Ms. Amat Al-Aleem Al-Susuwa has been honored with two international awards in the field of women leadership and defending human rights.
Al-Susuwa has a Vital Voice Celebrations in the US capital Washington DC will take place next month on the occasion of the presentation of an award to Al-Susuwa in the field of women’s political leadership, along with five other internationally prominent female dignitaries.
Washington, DC-based Vital Voices human rights organization, whose headquarters is in Washington, confirmed granting the award to Ms. Al-Susuwa as appreciation for her distinguished work in supporting human rights and civil rights in Yemen.
Vital Voices is a global partnership to support women’s progress in building democracies, strong economies and peace. Our work focuses on three critical areas: expanding women’s roles in politics and civil society; increasing successful women’s entrepreneurship; and fighting trafficking in women and girls and other human rights abuses.
On this occasion, Yemen Times contacted Sandra Willett Jackson, the President of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, who gave the following exclusive statement to Yemen Times. “Vital Voices is thrilled to honor your Minister of Human Rights, the Honorable Al-Susuwa. The award will be presented to her on Tuesday evening, May 18th. On the evening of May 17, your Honorable Ambassador to the United States will host a dinner in honor of the Minister and two other extraordinary women leaders. Later in the week, Minister Al-Susuwa will participate in meetings at the U.S. Department of State and in discussions with the press and public policy leaders about Yemen, women’s role in government, and trends in women’s leadership in the region.”
She added that , “as President of Vital Voices, I am pleased to tell you that we have selected Yemen’s Minister of Human Rights to receive our award for three reasons: her tireless work to bring women into political and civic life in Yemen, her leadership on women’s human rights in the region, and her pioneering work which makes her a role model for women around the globe.
To cite one example, Minister Al-Susuwa participated in the leadership training Vital Voices conducted in Muscat, Oman, last November for Omani women. As a result of this training, many more women in Oman have been able to take leadership training programs. They have now the communications skills, strategic planning concepts, and better understanding of what women’s political participation can do to stabilize governments and improved local economies.
Vital Voices is very grateful to Minister Al-Susuwa for working with Vital Voices. We would like more people around the world to know about her contributions to progress for all the citizens of Yemen.”
Italian award too
On the other hand, the Italian Marisa Bellisario organization has also decided to grant Ms. Al-Susuwa its international prize from among more than 70 prominent individuals, all distinguished supporters of human rights in their own countries.
The Marisa Bellisario Foundation is an Italian ethical society with a fundamental goal in strengthening women’s resources and abilities, placing particular focus on those women who have dedicated themselves to business, management and entrepreneurial careers. |
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2004-03-04 :: HR Minister says U.S. State Department's report very positive | (sabanews.net)- Minister of Human Rights Amatul-Aleem al-Suswah stated that the U.S. Department of State report on human rights in Yemen was very positive.
Al-Suswah told the 26 September weekly that the report seriously pointed out to faults that need to be dealt with.
The report, however, appreciated positive strides made by Yemeni government last year, and significant achievements in respect of human rights.
Al-Suswah said she had agreed with the American ambassador to Sana'a Edmond Hull on having a U. S. contribution for improving jails and reforming judiciary of Yemen.
The human rights minister is heading on Friday for the Netherlands to participate in the International Symposium on Reproductive Rights at the invitation of the Dutch Minister for Cooperation and Development.
From there, the minister said, she would fly to Switzerland to participate in the 60th Round for UN Human Rights Committee.
She added that she would deliver Yemen's report on human rights and efforts developed in this respect.
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2004-03-01 :: U.S. report on Yemeni human rights submitted to government | (sabanews.net)- The U.S. Ambassador submitted to Minister ofHuman Rights Amatul-Aleem al-Suswah a report issued by the U.S.
Departmentof State, on human rights in Yemen in 2003.
At her meeting with the Ambassador, al-Suswah stated that Yemen deals with human rights issues transparently, and that Yemen welcomes any
proposals,including reports issued by international organizations or the Secretaryof State, to promote human rights in Yemen.
She pointed out that the report again included comments that were responded to in the past three years, and that it bore information that are notquite true and need correction.
On his part, the U.S. ambassador appreciated development of human rightsin Yemen, and valued the Yemen reaction to reports of the State Departmentpertaining to human rights.
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2004-02-23 :: Tens of thousands in Yemen | (yementimes.com)- The government of Yemen recently approved a draft law regarding asylum to Yemen.
According to figures published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Yemen has 57,000 refugees, of whom are Somalis.
The law pertains to deportation of refugees. Sabe News says registered refugees would be only expelled in case the government sees it as necessary for the national security.
And in case refugees are to be deported, they would be notified on the decision and possibly have the right choose the country they are sent to.
Amnesty International said in its 2003 report that Yemen was deporting people under pretext their residency permits were expired,
The refugees, according to that policy, had no right to challenge the compulsory deportation decision.
Yemen’s Human Rights Minister Amat al-Aleem al-Souswa had said that Yemen was among the few countries in the region that have seriously pondered a national law on refugees, pointing out that a special committee set up by the council of ministers has been preparing the draft law.
The minister said in a statement to Saba News that Yemen was seeking to regulate the phenomenon of asylum by more commitment to international agreements on the issue of refugees.
She pointed out that the idea of passing a law regarding refugees was an old one and that there were many projects and some committee had been formed for that purpose. But they had not finish their work for various reasons, adding that it was high time for issuing this law.
The minister also said that the aggravation of problems resulting from the flow of refugees into Yemen urged the government to think about the importance legislation regulating them.
According to the new legislation, there would be some conditions in the light of which such persons could be given the status of refugees in addition to other relevant considerations.
The minister said ‘’Yemen currently hosts tens of thousands of refugees from the Horn of Africa for humanitarian reasons, and there are military refugees from Ethiopia and others escaping from the death penalty.”
There are other refugees for economic reasons and others related to wars and famines hitting their countries. All of them are in need of humanitarian and legal help.
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2004-02-19 :: Yemeni children to cast ballots for their parliament | (sabanews.net)- Sana'a, Feb 19 (Saba) - About 30,000 child-voters aged between 12 to 15 years old are preparing to vote for their parliament's representatives.
The children Parliament will be elected on April 11, 2004 in all governorates, under supervision of the Supreme Committee for Elections, Ministry of Human Rights and the Democratic School.
Registration for elections will commence on 28 February 2004.
Manager of the Democratic School Jamal al-Shami stated that the Parliament would hold its first session 15 days after final results the vote be announced.
He pointed out that the 2-year-term parliament would be headquartered at the Sana'a Democratic School. He added that the Parliament, to be comprised of 30 children 8 of whom are female, will hold their sessions every three months.
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2004-02-17 :: Human rights taught in GCC and Yemen schools | (sabanews.net)-
DOHA, Feb 17(Saba) - Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen are studying the feasibility of including human rights as a subject in schools.
This idea came into the focus at a regional workshop opened by the Qatari Minister of Education, Sheikh Ahmed al- Mahmoud, in Doha yesterday.
al- Mahmoud stressed the need for a common approach to teaching human rights in schools. Qatar was planning to implement, in cooperation with UNESCO, a project to educate schoolchildren on human rights, she said.
The chairman of the National Committee on Human Rights in Qatar, Khalid bin Mohammed al- Atiyya, said the country had made an amount leap in the field of human rights.
He stressed the importance of introducing human rights as a subject in the curriculum of the AGCC member states.
The representative of the Human Rights Commissioner's office, R. Amin Makki Madani, said children should be brought up in an environment that respects human rights .
JW/NM
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2004-02-17 :: Yemeni Jews supported | | (sabanews.net)- The National Tobacco Company (NTC) and Amran Local Authority provided more than 250 Yemeni Jews with equipment for sewing, leatherworks and ironworks, school chairs and books, and masonry. Amran Governor Taha Hajar and Sana'a NTC Manager Abdul Raqeeb Basha stated that the equipment, with a cost of Yrs 3 million, were granted in order to develop traditional handcrafts, in addition to reduce poverty by providing job opportunities |
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2004-02-16 :: Can UNESCO help more? | (yementimes.com)- The Minister of Human Rights, Amatulaleem Al-Susuwa, has said that there is a great potential for a greater UNESCO role in supporting and promoting human rights in Yemen.
This was one conclusion in a meeting with Ahmed Al-Saidi, Assistant General Manager of International Relations and Cooperation of UNESCO along with Hameed Al-Awadhi, Yemen’s permanent member at UNESCO and Mohamed Al-Qadasi, the General Secretary of the organization in Sana’a.
Al-Susuwa said that the ministry has been working hard to promote human rights in the country since she took charge of the ministry less than a year ago.
But she expressed hopes in that UNESCO could play a more influential role in the future through common programs and projects in this regard.
She focused on the ministry’s projects for the coming months in enhancing conditions of prisons, raising awareness of constitutional and legal rights of citizens, activating the ministry’s complaint receiving department, and helping in reviewing and changing the current laws and regulations to better conform to international regulations and agreements signed with Yemen.
On behalf of UNESCO, Al-Saidi expressed his willingness to support the project of establishing a hotline to receive complaints of citizens concerning human rights violations.
He said that technical support necessary in this field will be granted along with support in raising awareness of human rights through various tools including the media, along with supporting poverty reduction strategies. |
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2003-12-27 :: Yemen “partly free”: Freedom House | (yobserver.com)- Yemen's progress in political and civil rights has finally been recognized thanks to the untiring efforts of many in the Government, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, and many others to educate and explain Yemen’s progress to different organizations, including Freedom House.
The Washington-based institute has upgraded Yemen’s political rights ranking to “partly free”; it was categorized as “not free” in the Freedom House’s 2002 report.
Billing the advance as a “surprising level of freedom in a poor country”, the global survey, Freedom in the World, included Yemen among 25 countries demonstrating forward progress in freedom, while 13 registered setbacks. The ratings reflect global events from January 1, 2003 through November 30, 2003.
“The war on terrorism has led to repression in certain countries and regions, such as in Central Asia, where counter-terrorism is sometimes used to justify the stifling of dissent. But on balance, the world is continuing to move toward greater freedom and democracy,” said Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor.
The largest freedom gap exists in countries with a majority Muslim population, especially in the Arab world. But the survey finds no inexorable link between Islam and political repression. Indeed, it shows that half of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims live under democratically elected governments in countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. Yemen was seen to demonstrate notable progress in 2003 because of increased civic participation in the country's political process.
According to the survey, 88 countries are Free, representing 2.8 billion people (44 percent of the world's population). Their inhabitants enjoy a broad range of rights. Fifty-five countries are considered Partly Free, representing 1.3 billion people (21 percent). Political rights and civil liberties are more limited in these countries, in which corruption, dominant ruling parties, or, in some cases, ethnic or religious strife are often the norm. The survey finds that 49 countries are Not Free, representing 2.2 billion people (35 percent). Inhabitants of these countries are denied most basic political rights and civil liberties.
Since 1978, Freedom House has published Freedom in the World, an annual comparative assessment of the state of political rights and civil liberties in 192 countries and 17 related and disputed territories. Widely used by policy-makers, journalists, and scholars, the 600-page survey is the definitive report on freedom around the globe.
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