2004 Human Rights Report Discussed [Archives:2005/869/Front Page]

By Amel al-Ariqi
Yemen Times Staff
17 August- Sana'a, Yemen Times: The National Report on Human Rights in Yemen 2004 issued by the Ministry of Human Rights was again discussed yesterday through a one day seminar conducted by Al-Jazeera Center for Human Rights at the Writers Union in Sana'a. The discussion was inaugurated by Ms. Amat al-Aleem al-Sousowa Minister of Human Rights who delivered a speech confirming the partnership between the government and civil society and commented that the report discussed was written with the contribution of civil society and non governmental organisations and not just the ministry, in addition to 20 individual intellectuals of different academic and political affiliations. “The purpose behind this seminar today is not to only discuss a national report, in fact it should aim at drawing clear guidelines of the methodology for writing such reports so as to improve the outcome of such initiatives in the future.” She said.

The main three themes of the report that were discussed were about political rights, economic rights, and women and children rights. Dr. Adil Mujahd Al-Sharajabi a social studies professor at Sana'a University strongly criticised the report saying that it was clearly ignoring real life and was limited to analysis of the laws which are anyway not implemented. “This applies to all the international treaties and conventions Yemen ratifies without implementing” He added. While Dr. Bilqees Abu Isba director of al-Jazeera Center considered the report a good initiative of the Human Rights Ministry being a government body confirming that the seminar aims at endorsing Human Rights in Yemen and an attempt to improving reports of the like in the future.

Nashwan Mohammed al-Himyari a researcher in political sceinces and mass communication said that the report did not amention many of the violations against journalists that took place and ignored Sa'adha conflict completely. “The report did not provide a vision on how the government is going to create mechanisms to instate justice and compensation for the ones whose rights had been violated in case charges were made” he conformed.

Dr. Mohammed Moghram professor at the Jurisprudence College at Sana'a University agreed with Nashwan in his point and added that there are many economic, cultural and social violations practiced by the state against the people whether intentionally or unintentionally and all was not mentioned in the report.

In her analysis of the section on women in the report, Dr. Wafa al-Sharajabi narrated the status of women in Yemen and made a comparison between the international conventions ratified by the state and the practices with reference to the report. The seminar concluded without any recommendations.
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