Civic organizations denounce Yemen’s deteriorating living standards [Archives:2006/920/Local News]

TAIZ, Feb. 11 ) Vocational and public syndicates in Taiz province said deteriorating living standards, spreading unemployment and lower wages resulted in calamities and terrible incidents in Taiz and other Yemeni provinces.

A statement released by the syndicates said: “It is no wonder corruption, bribery and personal considerations are spreading in government institutions, among them the Ministry of Education, wherein cheating seems to be practiced publicly.”

It added: “Corruption, bribery and personal considerations in the health sector need remedying and reshuffling to rescue such a vital sector from decline and chaos.”

Vocational syndicates and public and civic organizations in Taiz vented their anger at the government for deteriorating security and health situations and living standards in Yemeni governorates and their consequences upon citizens' lives.

According to its statement, the organizations opposed tragic events in the province, the most terrible of which occurred on the eve of Eid Al-Adha. On this eve, some governorate officials exploited mean-spirited people and soldiers to extort citizens, claiming the lives of several innocent people living peacefully in this country.

Assemblers at the rally opposed the child kidnapping phenomenon that frightens parents, particularly after some women and university students were harassed and abducted.

If the government takes measures to eradicate the trend of child abduction and trafficking, how will kidnappers and traffickers dare pursue such illegal practices, assemblers asked. Child traffickers do whatever they want when they see authorities unable to end foreigner kidnappings and government offering money and posts to perpetrators. Such illegal acts have posed challenges to security personnel nationwide.

Syndicates of Yemeni women, teachers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and the Human Rights Information and Training Center's Committee to Support Human Rights were among organizations protesting Yemen's declining living standards.

Terrible incidents

News reports mentioned that 13-year-old Izdahar Abdullah Omar Saleh disappeared Monday, Feb. 6 after she left home for school. According to Al-Ayyam daily, the case was reported to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, which confirmed it still is investigating.

Another girl, Hanan Al-Selwi, remains lost for a second week. The two kidnapping cases sparked fear among Sana'a residents, particularly as security authorities never investigated the lost child's case, nor did they announce such cases to the public.

The coalition of civic organizations demanded the government disclose child trafficking cases and limit such a threatening trend.
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