Maria Diaz-Rodriguez
October 13, 2013
CWP
Yemen Human Rights
Yemen is located in southwest Asia at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula between
Oman and Saudi Arabia. In 1990 Yemen unified and gained its constitution that provides some
of the most basic human rights. Yemen is considered one of the world’s poorest nations, and the
only republic in the Arab Peninsula; its neighbors are kingdoms or emirates. Today, their human
rights situation is poor. In the past years Yemen has regressed when it comes to political rights
and civil rights. The country is facing attacks on freedom of speech, gender discrimination and
violation of women's rights, and arbitrary detention. These human rights violations are being
compared to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that established a common standard of
achievement for all people and to all nations.
The government of Yemen does not respect freedom of speech, expression, and the press.
Expressing your opinion is one of the most terrifying human right challenges that Yemen is
facing because “it can get you killed”, according to Belkis Willie; a researcher in Yemen for
Human Rights Watch. Supportive to many Yemeni journalists they agree that “death threats are
simply part of their job”. Attacks against journalists include studios being bombed and faced
intimidation, arrest, and physical violence. The government acted to improve respect for the right
of Yemenis and has eased control on speech and media. This caused many journalists to write
more openly about political corruption and social problems that Yemen is facing. This new
freedom caused a rise in accident against journalists, bloggers, and others speaking out.
Newspapers are being closed by the government. Yemen most popular newspaper, Al-Ayyam,
was closed by the government for publishing “incorrect” information. This actions are clearly
opposite to article 19 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states “Everyone has
the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and important information and ideas through any media
and regardless of frontiers”. The government is violating a right that is believed to belong
justifiably to every person.
Women in Yemen generally have low social status and are excluded from public life.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Yemeni women face severe discrimination in all aspects of
their lives”. It’s not enough to mention that women cannot carry marry without permission of
their male guardian and do not have equal rights to divorce. They also lack of legal protection
that leaves them exposed to domestic and sexual violence. Yemen has high levels of child
marriage, with girls young as eight forced into marriage. Child marriage is one of the most
severe forms of gender discrimination that is very common in Yemen. Early marriages can cause
serious physical and emotional harm, and deny education and other opportunities to girls.
Women in Yemen are vastly underrepresented in elective office with just one woman in the
lower house parliament. All this discrimination and inequality goes against article one of The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states, “All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood”. Women are not equal in dignity and rights compared to men
in Yemen.
In Yemen many are facing arbitrary arrest. Yemenis are illegally imprisoned and abused
by security forces. According to Human Rights Watch “Yemeni security forces have arbitrarily
detained dozens of demonstrators and other perceived opponents of former president Ali
Abdullah Saleh since anti-government protests began in February 2011”. Security forces
detained Yemenis for days, weeks, or months without charge. Detainees are subjected to torture
and other ill-treatments, including beatings, electric shocks, threats of rape or death, and weeks
or months in solitary confinement which is the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as a
punishment. One example is the case of a twenty-two year old man named Saddam Ayedh alShayef, where he explains his experience as a former detained. According to Saddam Ayedh alShayef he was grabbed from a street in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, and was droved blind
folded to a prison in the capital where he was tortured repeatedly for a week. “They made me
drink my own urine,” he said. “When I refused to drink it, they electrocuted me. After I came
home, I would dream I was still being tortured and I’d wake up screaming”. Saddam Ayedh alShayef’s case, like many other cases in Yemen, goes against article five of The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights that states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and article nine, “No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”. These are human rights entitle to humans that need to be
respected.
The government is going through a political and democratic transition led by President
Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, who came to power in a February 2012 election. Hadi’s first
achievement, achieved in March of that same year, was opening a national dialogue conference
that will feed into a new constitution-making progress. This new constitution process is the
opportunity to end human rights violations against Yemenis. Yemen should protect women's
rights by ensuring that its new constitution has protections for women and set a minimum age for
marriage at least eighteen years old. The government should also enact laws to end all forms of
violence against, and protect girls and women. Overall, the government should end child
marriage, and strive to have more equality between genders. The government of Yemen should
stop trying to justify it’s clearly violations and start taking action. In the situation of arbitrary
arrest, the government needs to immediately release persons still arbitrarily detained.