Islah Calls Upon Political Forces Enhance Democracy & Independence of Syndicates [Archives:2000/48/Reportage]
The Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party ,number two in Yemen, calls upon all parties and political forces to pull together to strengthen the democratic course, develop its awareness, overcoming obstacles impeding its way. They also call for the independence of syndicates work.
This was stressed upon in the final report issued after the second Round of Islah Second General Conference held during (18-20) November 2000.
Islah expressed condemnation of the authority backing out from the democratic process. It revealed deep, serious concerns for violation of human rights, freedom, continuation of aggressive and illegal acts against people in different places and called upon the judiciary system and the prosecution to pursue their duties to protect the dignity of citizens. All organizations interested in human rights should maintain their role in exposing all the violations and their perpetrators.
As for elections, the final report confirmed the importance and necessity of saving and correcting the elections logs and voters lists deleting fake names. The report indicated that the Supreme Committee for Elections is the one which has to do this job.
In the field of economy, Islah condemned the government policy of declared and undeclared price rises, increasing fines and taxes that overburden various sections of the society. These measures lead to nothing but more deterioration and suffering in the living conditions of the people. It raised question marks on the feasibility of taking serious measures against the administrative and financial corruption.
Islah emphasized in the final report, the importance of improving the governments role to develop the agricultural and industrial sectors in terms of improving the marketing infrastructure and services, overcoming all the obstacles facing this process. The report condemns the attempts to marginalize the agricultural sector where more than 50% of the population are working.
Islah has also urged the government to re-consider classifying salaries of the civil and military men and enhancing their salaries to enable them cope with the rising costs of living.
In education, Islah calls upon the government to generalize education and to apply equity in distributing the educational services among all the governorates of the Republic, giving equal chances for all the people. The report also said that the government should adopt a comprehensive plan to eradicate illiteracy among the people. Its a sheer shame for Yemen to enter the third millennium with more than 50% of its population being illiterate, the report revealed. It also stressed that higher education meets the needs of the people relieving unemployment, taking care of female education by establishing more schools and other institutions and giving teachers their due right.
The report calls for the impartiality of official media pointing out that they should not be used to offend and assault individuals, groups and opposition political forces.
It also warns against deterioration of ethics and morals, specially distorting Islamic beliefs and healthy norms in the society.
Islah voiced a solid support for Palestinians, condemning the USA for taking sides with the Zionist enemy. Islah stressed activating the national committees resisting normalization with Zionist enemy. It also asserted lifting sanctions on the Iraqi people, and highly lauded efforts exerted by the Yemeni President Saleh and the Djibouti President Ismail Jeilah for the reconciliation in Somalia.
It also reiterated its support for Muslims in Chechnya and reviewed Muslims issues in Kashmir, India, Philippines, Africa and Europe and all the Islamic groups in the world.
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