26_September [Archives:2008/1128/Press Review]

Thursday, February 7
Top Stories

– President Saleh directs forming a new presidential committee

– A Senegalese envoy is due to arrive in Yemen with an official letter to President Saleh

– Information Ministry makes up legal committees to ensure that newspapers are law-abiding

– Parliamentary source: Yahya Al-Raei due to replace late Sheikh Al-Ahmar as Parliament Speaker

– Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen to visit Sana'a this week

– Yemen to host journalists and European tourist companies' managers in coming April

– Yemen dropped from human rights abuses blacklist

The weekly quoted Yemen News Agency, Saba, as saying that Human Rights Watch dropped Yemen from human rights violations countries blacklist of 2007, made up of over 175 countries including 13 Arab states. In its 2008 report on the human rights violations all over the world, the Human Rights Watch omitted Yemen from the blacklist that was including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Human Rights Ministry and concerned bodies activists signaled that excluding Yemen form the blacklist showed the advancement of the human rights performance in the country. Hood Organization Executive Director Khalid Al-Anesi, however, said that exclusion of Yemen “does not mean the human rights situation in the country has improved”, clarifying that the Organization's researchers have been prevented from coming into the country to scrutinize the human right situation.

The organization doesn't have a bureau in Yemen, Al-Anesi said, pointing out that the human rights organizations must carry out their works through field investigations and close assessments and observations. The New York-based Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world, was established in the United States of America in 1978.
——
[archive-e:1128-v:15-y:2008-d:2008-02-11-p:press]