Imad Al-Saqqaf
Taiz Bureau Chief
Yemen Times
The Women's Forum for Research and Training held a seminar on Human and Political Rights in Taiz last Wednesday January 24, 2001. In her opening statement, the Chairman of the forum, Ms. Suad Al-Qadasi explained the forum's role in spreading awareness about human and political rights in general, with particular emphasis on the rights of women in political and social life. In her speech, she stated that the main objective of the forum was to spread awareness about the rights of women to freely express themselves and to explain their problems and sufferings so as to encourage civil society and the media to suggest and discuss solutions to violent incidents which target Yemeni women. The forum, according to Ms. Qadasi, aims at developing mechanisms to coordinate different women's organizations and come up with common ground. The forum hopes to reach its goals through the various activities it carries out, and by presenting studies and research about the condition of women in Yemen.

Later on, Dr. Salaheddin Haddash presented a working paper on human and political rights -mainly concerning elections- in Yemen. He mentioned the constitutional articles that grant Yemenis the right to vote in all elections and further stated that internationally approved standards of human and electoral rights are met in the constitution. According to Dr. Haddash, the main obstacle facing the election process in Yemen is illiteracy, as many violations take place through interfering in illiterate electors' votes during the election process. This in itself is an obvious human rights violation that should be stopped. Dr. Haddash concluded his statement by presenting steps that could help avoid future problems in the election process:
- Forming an independent and honest Judicial Court to deal with election violations and end any disputes over voting problems
- Providing equal coverage by government-run media organs during and before the election period for the parties participating in the elections.
- Not using governmental resources, including funds and other assets, in favor of the ruling party over all the other competing parties.
- Supervising and correcting candidate and electoral lists on a regular basis.
- Encouraging women to participate in the electoral process.
- Preventing and avoiding the use of violence during the elections.

Afterwards, female lawyer Nabile Al-Mufti presented a working paper about human rights and the political right of forming parties and groups in Yemen. In her paper, she stated that the Yemeni law that organizes political parties and movements, grants Yemenis the right to form political parties and groups on condition that they do not contradict Islamic values, Yemen's unity and independence, the republican system, the revolution and constitution's objectives, the national and Islamic values of Yemenis and the universal declaration of human rights. She also mentioned other conditions for forming a political party, including not setting up any sort of military structure, plus other conditions. She also mentioned that the law gave the judicial system the exclusive right to stop or suspend any political party. Hence, it would be impossible for any authority or governmental office to order the closure or suspension of any party without a decisive verdict from a court, which must first have received a written request from the Head of the Party Affairs Committee.
Ms. Nabile concluded her statement by mentioning the obstacles facing political and civil freedom in Yemen, and the NGO law recently endorsed by parliament.

Dr. Abbas Al-Junaid also presented a working paper on human rights and freedom of expression in Yemen. In his paper, he emphasized that freedom of expression is a human right which does not distinguish between male and female. He also stated that freedom of expression in Yemen is guaranteed in the written press and can be easily observed in the various newspapers that represent different parties and viewpoints, and could also be observed in the different political parties and groups which all operate without government interference.

The Chairman of the Yemeni Civil Forum, Lawyer Jamal Al-Adimi's working paper focused on human rights and peaceful forums in Yemen. He explained that Yemeni laws and the constitution respect and organize peaceful civil movements in Yemen. He also stated that parliamentary and local elections are the two practical developments that would show to what extent did Yemen reach in terms of internationally accepted standards in human and political rights.

After all the working papers were presented, a discussion session was held, in which many intellectuals and professors from Taiz University debated the reasons behind the low participation of Yemeni women in elections, and their absence from political life. The seminar concluded that there should be more intensive efforts to spread awareness among the female population of the important role women should play in future elections.
Among the participants in the seminar were Yusuf Abu Ras, Manager of the UN Information Center in Yemen, Suzan Darlin of Helsinki University , Finland, Abdulamalik Al-Marhabi, Representative of the Friedrick Stiftung office in Yemen, and Faiza Abdulraqib, Deputy Manager of the Arab Institute for Developing Democracy in Aden.

Dr. Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sheikh
Head of the Main Office of the League of Yemen Sons League Party

"Local government is an important pillar of any democracy. No developing country can improve unless every one of its citizen contributes to the improvement of democracy.
Striving for local government is a public demand that should come hand in hand with democracy. Those who treat it as something beyond reality tend to ignore the great sacrifices of national pioneers and movement leaders throughout history.
Local councils are not a totally new experience for Yemen. Before unification, there used to be cooperative authorities with reasonable self-governance in former north Yemen. Without doubt, the upcoming local councils are much more democratic and independent. However, there was an attempt by the government to merge these authorities with local councils in 1985 and this shows that local councils have always been on the mind of the leadership.
In the former south Yemen, we used to have local public councils which were, despite people's participation, controlled and directed by the government. In 1956, the League of Yemen Sons Party was able to establish a unique example of local governance in the Lahj Sultanate. It established a constitution that guaranteed the rights of all citizens and abolished anarchy by conducting elections. An independent judicial system and court were also established. This experience did not appeal to the British colonial rulers who realized the danger represented by the spread of this phenomenon to other Sultanates. So they invaded Lahj in 1985 and arrested the leaders of the League Party.
The League of Yemen Sons bases its position on its political ideology and its realization of local, regional and global changes. Our party was the first to call for the adoption of decentralization in the country, and presented a complete draft law for local elections. The government of the unified Yemen responded by issuing the Local Authority Law which has many drawbacks and contradicted some the constitution's core articles. So the government has called for modifications to the constitution to suit their new law, instead of the other way around.

The stand of our party in regard to the local council elections is clear and decisive. Our party:
1) will not boycott the local elections.
2) will not make any decisions in regard to the nomination of candidates.
3) has the full freedom to react to any political maneuver according to the general concepts and norms of the party.
4) encourages the nomination of honest independent candidates.
We have decided to participate in the elections to strengthen democratic practice in our beloved country. But we also know that guaranteeing fair and serious elections is a prerequisite for the success of the whole process, and save it from becoming no more than an artificial decoration. Therefore, the League of Yemen Sons believes that the commitment of the Supreme Election Committee to have a fair and accurate election process during all the different stages of the elections is vital for the success of this democratic process. We, as the League of Yemen Sons Party, openly expressed our opinion and clarified our vision to the Conference on Electoral Development Administration in March 1999, in which we affirmed the importance of the participation of all parties, under the conditions of fairness and equal opportunities.
As for the constitutional amendments, we openly reject them and call upon the public to say "NO" to them. We believe that even the constitutional amendments that were applied after the 1994 civil war are not adequate and only served the victorious side, at that time the PGC and Islah. Moreover, the constitution amendments cause more confusion and includes more drawbacks, including:
1) Vagueness in describing how peaceful transfer of power should be carried out.
2) Lack of steps as to how to deal with the election of the vice president once the president is elected.
3)Constraint of democracy by requesting a 10% approval from the parliament before nominating presidential candidates.
4) Ambiguity in articles concerning the economy, and lack of guarantees of capitals and investment.
5) Judiciary and local authorities both controlled by excessive authority.
6) Founds a Shoura Council with no more than artificial authority.
7) Local councils have no right to elect their chairmen.
Despite all the negative aspects of the local authority law and constitutional amendments, we still insist on not boycotting the upcoming local council elections. We believe that total acceptance and total rejection are a fashion of the past, which should not be adopted any more. We need to go forward and express our views openly, and hope for a good result in the coming elections."

Abdo Mohammed al-Janadi, 
Nasserite Democratic Party Secretary General

"In order to start our debate about the importance of local council elections, we first need to go back to the local authority law so as to understand the authorities involved and their duties. The law has in some sense presented a wide range of guidelines and given reasonable authority to the newly established councils if compared to the previously established local councils, except for the nomination of the governors and districts directors. This means that if and only if voters cast their votes for those who truly deserve to be elected, will our democratic practice be pushed forward. I believe that success in enforcing laws will be one of the main priorities and responsibilities of local councils.
"I support the view that it is better to be optimistic than pessimistic because I feel that local councils will emerge to serve the public, and then political reforms may follow, leading to the enforcement of state laws. This is of great significance, especially when remembering that many violations in administrative, financial and security sectors are attributed to the fact that effective laws are not enforced.
"It seems to me that the biggest difference between the current councils and the previous councils is that the current ones are being set up in a reasonably real democratic environment. It is worth noting that authority is to be granted to local councils in many fields including social development, service and administration, financial development, planning, education, health, security, plus others. All these will positively affect the lives of the Yemeni people. If these councils work properly, there will certainly be remarkable benefit for the public and an increase in the standards of living. Members of these councils will also be protected by law so as they can never be harmed by officials usually appointed by some corrupt governors. The constitution gives these members the right to have a say in the councils and a simple vote could easily cause loss of confidence in these officials and consequently lead to their removal from their position. This will certainly make the government select qualified officials in these councils and local council members themselves may be removed if proven passive or not productive for their respective regions.
It could be true that affiliating the local councils to the Ministry of Local Government would decreases the possibilities of success, especially as we are at the initial stages when more authority and independence are vital for the success of the forthcoming local councils. On the other hand, if local councils are abiding by the law and making use of the authority they are given so as to serve their communities and people, then there would be little effect from the government's supervision and interference.
All in all, what is important in this democratic practice we are going through, is that the public's opinion be heard. What is also important is the participation of different parties in a hopefully reasonably fair electoral process.
As for the campaign launched by other parties against the constitutional amendments, we do respect it but we do not agree with it. We have the view that these amendments do not constitute a setback to our democracy. Rather they are necessary steps needed due to social and economic changes taking place world-wide. Some of them are actually measures to enhance our democratic transition and help expand the basis of participation. Besides, these amendments are not the first of their kind. This is the second time that such amendments have been suggested. The actual public referendum on amendments, electing the president and defining his term in office by two rounds, and electing local councils, are all the fruits of the first amendments which in my view were a way to enhance democracy.
In short, the current amendments are not a setback from the democratic transition, just as the constitutional reforms are not a setback. We are also against the belief that the SEC is taking sides with the PGC because there are many members formally representing different political parties in the SEC. These members were from many different parties including PGC, Islah and the YSP. They were also chosen by the members of Parliament.