Ideas for the 1st Conference for Emigrants [Archives:1999/21/Focus]
This is an OPINION page.
Every week, a different intellectual writes a FOCUS on a pertinent issue!
Adnan Saif
Birmingham, England
Reading recently in Yemen Times about the debates that took place in the Consultative Council on Yemeni emigrants, and the forthcoming First Conference for Yemeni Emigrants, triggered me to put on paper the thoughts that are going through my mind.
As a British Yemeni, the mere mention of Yemen raises all sorts of emotions in me. Although my last visit to Yemen was ten years ago, and my comments might seem to be those of an observer from afar, I nevertheless follow all the events in Yemen closely through a number of channels, including letters from relatives, discussions with visiting friends and relatives and of course the media, particularly Yemen Times, since it has became available on the internet. Therefore, I believe I am still sufficiently informed to make the following comments. I shall start with some general observations, before dealing with specific issues
Firstly, it is widely acknowledged that the last twenty years have seen some of the most important developments in Yemen’s history. These include the re-unification of the country, some democratization and modest progress in exploiting the country’s natural resources. I am not attempting to downplay the disasters of the armed conflicts of the early eighties, nor the civil war of 1994, but the fact that these events have largely been overcome to the long term benefit of Yemen is in itself testimony to the generally positive trend in the country’s development.
Secondly, living in a country like the U.K. gives me the ability to view and compare developments in many other less developed countries like Yemen, largely due to the wealth of information available here. I couldn’t fail to note that potentially the most significant asset that Yemen possessed over this period has been in the person of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. He has demonstrated admirable capabilities in managing a historically challenging country, in a troubled region and in an exceptionally troubled period in world history, i.e., the Cold War, then the New World Order, etc.
Thirdly, in relation to Yemeni emigrants, and having read the various points and suggestions made in the debates of the Consultative Council, I would humbly suggest that although the participants might be well intentioned, some of the papers presented contain proposals which indicate that their authors live in a dream world.
My final general observation is based on first hand experiences that I personally had with the Yemeni authorities in the shape of Yemeni institutions dealing with Yemenis abroad, and the experiences of relatives and friends who either live in Yemen or are fortunate enough to be more frequent visitors to the home country than my self. Put simply, the relationship between the state and its organs on the one hand and the citizens on the other seems to be in need of a revolution on a scale not less than that which gave birth to the Republic.
Now, I will go to specifics.
Having spent most of my adult life serving the Yemeni community in the city and country where I live, either full-time or in a voluntary capacity, and having witnessed its development since the mid 1970s, I have some first hand experience of the issues that concern most of us. Therefore, in order to articulate these, let me take the case of the Yemeni community in Birmingham, UK, as the basis of my submission.
The City of Birmingham and its suburbs have about 600 Yemeni households, with probably more than 5,000 individuals. The community exhibits the following characteristics:
1.For most of its history, the community has been living a life that is very detached from the rest of British society. Its main institutions, such as the various community associations, have always concerned themselves with Yemeni and Arab issues, and rarely focus on any issues of direct concern to the future of the community or the society in which they live. The main reason for this has been the fact that the leadership of these associations has been from a highly politicized minority, which is strongly allied to one political movement or another back in Yemen, and the influence that such movements have had on the direction taken by the associations.
2.The most effective institutions to serve the community have been the charitable ones, as they tend not to concern themselves with the divisive political issues. In recent years, such charitable institutions have made a marked difference to the life of the community, particularly in relation to the teaching of the Arabic language and Islamic religion to the children of the community.
3.A study of the socio-economic condition of the various British communities will show that the Yemeni community is amongst the most deprived. The reason for this is simple. Most community members came from rural areas in Yemen where illiteracy is high, and went straight into unskilled, low pay jobs in the old British manufacturing industry. So when this industry declined, they were left without jobs and had no basic education to fall back on. This led to Yemeni families remaining in poor areas of the inner-city where, for example, the educational provision in local schools which their children attend, is also poor by comparison to the national average. This is particularly troubling when you consider that 50% of the community is under the age of 16 years!
4.To add to the social isolation of the community, it is extremely painful to observe the dominance of what I can only describe as ‘qat culture’. Whichever city or town you visit in Britain, where members of the Yemeni community have settled, you find this sad culture pervasive. I describe this ‘qat culture’ as ‘painful’ and ‘sad’ because I believe it is costing the community and Yemen a high price. For, instead of using their spare time to make use of the excellent opportunities for self-development in the many educational and training institutions, members of the community – especially the young – spend their time chewing qat. Also, instead of saving the little money they have to improve theirs and their families’ standard of living or invest in their children’s future, the money goes for qat!
5.The structure and age profile of the community has also changed.
Whilst until the early eighties the community was made up largely of men who left their families back in Yemen, for more than a decade now the community is made up of family units, and increasingly, you find three generations of one family settled in Britain. Another alarming trend relates to those who have reached retirement age. Instead of spending their retirement in Yemen where the cost of living is much lower, many of them now choose to spend their last days in Britain.
6.So far as the younger members of the community are concerned, in a recent straw-poll survey, it was found that there were only about 25 young people who held university degrees from British universities, with a similar number currently in the process of doing so. This is extremely low and less than would be expected in other communities.
7.Working with the local government in a multi-ethnic city, I have come to know many people outside the Yemeni community. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the Yemenis is their attachment to their home country – Yemen. Even those who were born here and have not had the chance to visit Yemen are attached to and supportive of their country.
The above brief outline of the Yemeni community in Birmingham may not reflect the picture of all emigrant Yemeni communities, and has been deliberately skewed to emphasize the problems and challenges facing Yemenis abroad. For I fear that the potentially unique opportunity of the First Conference for Emigrants, which represents a generous and timely intervention by President Ali Saleh and the Minister for Immigrants, will be filled with rhetoric and lofty promises from participants who are far removed from the reality of everyday life experienced by emigrants.
I would therefore take this opportunity to give three examples of the type of contact that emigrants have with the Yemeni authorities. These examples are of real life stories that I personally have witnessed, or received direct account of from the people concerned.
On one occasion I happened to be in Gatwick Airport, near London, receiving some friends. I came across a Yemeni family of seven: father, mother, three sons, a daughter and a grandson, who where stranded in the airport in great distress. As I knew the family from Birmingham I tried to find out what had happened to them only to find that the trip of a lifetime which they thought they were about to start has just been abruptly and cruelly cancelled by the officials of Yemenia in the airport. The family planned their trip for months, having booked and confirmed their booking they arrived to the check-in desk at the airport where the English lady working at the counter processed their tickets, passports and luggage in the normal way, as all their papers where in order. Some time later, the senior Yemeni official responsible located the family, brought back their luggage and gave them back their tickets and simply told them their booking was not in order! The family was absolutely shattered, they did not know what to do or who to turn to. Having saved enough money for the trip, and placed two of their children who were severely physically handicapped in care while they were going to be in Yemen, and planning to arrive to Sana’a in time for the wedding of one of their relatives, they were devastated. The Yemenia official cancelled their trip seemingly without any feeling. After decades away from Yemen, this was their first encounter with Yemeni officialdom.
Trying to find out why the Yemenia official cancelled their booking when every thing was in order, I found out that the true story was that he had received a request from a group of high ranking Yemeni officials wishing to board the same flight in Rome or Cyprus, and they did not have a booking at all. The official’s response was to pick on the weak and vulnerable, and simply cancel their trip. After numerous telephone calls and interventions I managed to get the female members of the family on the flight while the father and his sons had to return to Birmingham and take the next flight.
Real life story number two relates to another member of the community who decided to move his family back to Yemen. Before he did, he bought a piece of land in Sana’a in order to build a house for the family. Most readers who know about land deals in Sana’a will know what happened next. Having paid the money, and got the paperwork done he traveled to Yemen to arrange for the building work. No sooner had he arrived, than some high-ranking official claimed the land was his and the sale was false. Years later, having worked and spent all the money he had saved to build the house to no avail, the man returned sick and died months after arrival in Britain. No member of his family is now thinking of going back to visit Yemen, let alone settle in Yemen.
Story number three: A family saves enough money to travel to Yemen and spend a year to get the children to know the country and their relatives. Having arrived in Taiz, the family stayed in the house they had already bought. The first problem they encountered was the lack of space for their children in the local schools. The second problem came when the younger children contracted malaria, and they could not find any reasonable attention from the local doctors and hospitals. Basic facilities were also lacking. For example, water was rationed, and they could only receive it for so many hours a week. They cut their visit short and returned to Britain.
Last but not least, a very common problem encountered by British Yemenis and probably Yemeni emigrants elsewhere, particularly it seems when dealing with British embassy staff in Sana’a, relates to the recognition of documents issued by Yemeni authorities. For whatever reason, these documents do not seem to be credible any longer. So you can imagine what it is like when, for example, a woman tries to prove she is the wife of her deceased Yemeni husband who worked all his life in Britain. How can the woman prove she is the legal wife of the deceased? There appears to have been many such cases, where such women have not been able to claim their pensions because the documents used as proof of the marriage do not carry any credibility with the British authorities. Such UK authorities might have a valid reason to be skeptical, but surely there is a role for the Yemeni authorities to restore credibility in their systems, procedures and documents.
For me it will be a sad day if the agenda for the First Conference for Emigrants becomes dominated by talks about nationality laws and passports, and allowing the children of emigrants to study in Yemeni schools for free, or focus on attracting investment to the country, and avoids discussing the more basic needs of the vast majority of Yemeni emigrants. This, together with the cases I have outlined above, leads me to put forward the following:
1.President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Minister for Emigrants, and other senior politicians have already acknowledged that Yemeni Emigrants have always given Yemen more than they have asked of it. The least then that emigrants can expect in return is that the ‘contact authorities’ such as officials of the state airline – Yemenia, staff of Yemeni embassies, and other officials at ports of entry treat their needs with respect and professionalism. Ensuring that people are appointed to these posts are the right people can do this.
2.Ambassadors in particular, and embassy staff generally, need to realize that British Yemenis, American Yemenis and all other Yemenis abroad potentially represent a strategic depth for Yemen which needs to be realized. Lobbying on behalf of Yemen, in Britain, for example, is perfectly legal and the Yemeni community can play a role in strengthening Yemeni-British relations. However, instead of promoting unity and acting impartially, sadly we often see embassy staff importing and planting Yemeni party-politics among the Yemenis to the detriment of the community.
3.The outline of the Yemeni community in Birmingham clearly indicates that Yemeni communities abroad, if they are to do anything to end isolation in their host societies, need Yemen to stop exporting problems to them, such as qat and meaningless party-politics. Good institutions serving the Yemeni emigrants need to be supported and encouraged, not ignored or sidelined.
4.Senior Yemeni politicians and officials will no doubt come across a lot of emotional outbursts from delegates to this conference. My advice would be not to rush into making resolutions and agreeing to programs that are not based on sound study of the problems raised, and will only serve to further erode the credibility of the authorities concerned in the long run.
5.Many of the problems encountered by Yemeni emigrants when dealing with Yemeni authorities, in Yemen or outside Yemen, are often extremely harmful because emigrants find it difficult to deal with Yemeni bureaucracy, which I am told is unique in the world. Can I suggest therefore that, as a first practical sign of acknowledging the role of Yemeni emigrants in Yemen’s development, the Ministry of Emigrants becomes not just an agency of the government, but the ‘champion’ of the Yemeni emigrant?
Making the channel of communication between the Ministry and every emigrant as direct as possible can start with this. An internet site and an e-mail address are also possibilities.
6. In Britain, there is debate which has been going on for a long time, about how communities who have recently settled in Britain should integrate into British society. However, it seems such a debate is increasingly pointless, because many second and third generations of such communities see themselves as British first, and Yemeni or Pakistani or Indian second. This is the reality of our communities. In the words of an American Yemeni, who wrote on the Yemenis Abroad Web Page at www.yementimes.com/yemenis.htm, ‘But you, old country (i.e., Yemen), if you want us, you must make us feel welcome’.
What I mentioned above can go a long way to making Yemeni emigrants feel welcome in their homeland.
7.Another area for consideration relates to the credibility of the public records, archives and systems for documentation. Many Yemenis in Britain are losing out because they rely on documents issued in Yemen, such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, etc. which are increasingly losing their credibility here. Therefore, one of the greatest services that can be provided to Yemeni emigrants is the review of such systems and the establishment of a central unit to restore credibility to these important documents.
8. My last suggestion is that when accountability, security and justice are established in any society, it does not need to give special attention to any of its citizens, because each one of them should be equal under the law. Given that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has accomplished a great deal for Yemen, he must protect those achievements by devoting increasing attention to these basic building blocks of a civilized society. Only then will all Yemenis, emigrants or otherwise, feel able to give their best to ensure Yemen’s prosperity. Should the President decide to embark on such a revolution, he will find me, and every Yemeni emigrant, as supportive as our fathers were when the September and October Revolutions took place.
Finally, some people reading this might think it is unnecessary criticism. My reply would be to quote from Albert Camus’ “Letters to a German Friend” when he said: “To criticize one’s country is to do it a service and pay it a compliment. It is a service because it may spur the country to do better than it is doing, it is a compliment because it evidences a belief that it can do better than it is doing.”
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