May 1st: Hard Times for Yemeni Workers [Archives:1999/17/Law & Diplomacy]

Introduction
The world has assigned special days for particular world occasions. Celebrating these occasions means a lot for the target people of celebration. When we celebrate, for instance, women world day, it reveals to us that the globe confesses the significance and vitality of women in the society; there is a worldwide recognition after a long time of oppression and man’s unipolar control. The time is, moreover, an opportunity to honor the activists for their hard work, which serves promote the development if their nations as a whole. it is also a good time to evaluate the work all along the year so as to promote the work further and also have a grip over the obstacles.
For us, we in Yemen celebrate all national and international anniversaries. But they remain just decorations and an imitation of others. In other words, we celebrate the World health Day and paint “in the year 2000 health for all” while a good number of our people are crippled or plagued with a good many diseases. Over 12% of the Yemeni population is infected with malaria. some 20,000 Yemeni die of malaria and over 6000 Yemenis die every month of malaria, dysentery, respiratory diseases, typhoid, hepatitis B, AIDS and other illnesses. Estimates indicate that 41% of the Yemeni population suffers from one disease or another. Of these, a solid 90% pass away annually. nearly 15% of the Yemeni populations is afflicted with hepatitis B. The list can go on, yet we continue to sing our miracles in the field of health. We also even celebrate the World Water Day, while most of our cities are under the strangle-hold of thirst. We celebrate the World Population Day, which is a great chance to alarm the world of the jeopardy of population explosion and the importance of birth control, while our government and people are not equally aware of population explosion in Yemen. Estimates indicate that annual population growth rate is 3.7% and that 42% of the total population today (17.7 million) is represented by infants and children. The proportion will reach 46% by the year 2005 and 50% by 2010. It is a staggeringly alarming problem, isn’t it?
The list of such national and international occasions will go on. As a matter of fact, they turn to mere decorations and time for shallow glorification of, sometimes, phantom achievements, void of their real meaning and actual context. For the masses, these times are moments reminding of frustration and depression for it is very saddening for them to see our officials singing through the various mass media and eulogizing their ‘accomplishments’, while in reality these poor people can not find even aspirin in public hospitals, not to mention other essential facilities. This is depressing when our officials spend millions of dollars for their medical check-ups abroad. It is confusing for them to see our miraculous accomplishments in the media only.
Labor World Day
I will seize this opportunity to talk a little bit about the Labors World Day, meeting the first day of May. this occasion is also saddening for us, because out of Yemen’s total workforce, around 36% are unemployed. Most of them are returnees from the Gulf countries because of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Some might tangle that they are jobless because of lack of profession. That is right, qualified people are to be needed. However, there are also some people who are highly qualified and have graduated from well-esteemed universities and even with career-oriented specializations. yet, “We don’t have vacancies right now” is a casual reply they find wherever they go in search of a job. Thus, joblessness is not related to lack of qualifications? Of course, NO!
Some of our companies are troubled with the complex of preferring foreign workers to Yemeni ones. They view these non-Yemenis as something Yemen can not create like them ever. They are paid in dollar and accommodated with all facilities. Actually, I can guarantee that there are Yemeni who are much more better and can even compete, but are not given a free room. In fact, Yemen has a lot of talents which can do wonders if tapped and nourished well.. Therefore, this foreign-preference complex help increasing the unemployment growth rate al lot.
People from Iraq, Africa, India etc. are to be found in these companies and international organizations. Therefore, we urge these companies and organizations to make their job vacancies restricted to Yemeni nationals only, if they are really interested in helping it, for it can only be built by its own people, if need be by qualifying them and giving them technical training.
Another plight of our workforce is a result of the erratic privatization process of some public institutions. This has brought into being a good number of jobless people owing to their discharge. And even more the number of the dismissed people is expected to grow up in the future. Another thing is that the influx of many products through smuggling into the Yemeni markets has given the Yemeni business activities hard times and put them at the horns of a dilemma. The resultant business fluctuation has forced our businessmen to discharge some of their employees as a way-out for their financial straits. This has raised the unemployment rate dramatically.
Poverty and Unemployment
Poverty has become the main headache of the country right now. Most of the population live below the line of poverty. The results of the third annual family budget survey released some months ago by the Central Statistical organization offer a horrible and dismal picture of the economic hardships of our people. The daily expenditure per capita is less than a dollar, where Qat and food takes up 65%. This difficult situation has made even children search for work. People in Yemen are now ready to do any career. They have stooped a lot to conquer the horrible economic nightmare of unemployment. University graduates are not now shy to serve as waiters in restaurants. The government seems to be unconscious of inflow of the university graduates who find streets their sole shelter. The government should stop this influx if it can not ensure them jobs. That is, its educational policy should focus on career-oriented subjects. Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf was wholly right when he wrote in the editorial of the Yemen Times issue 16 forget about universities and other giant institutions. We must focus on small training and educational organization, which can quickly adapt to change”. He also suggested the establishment of cyber cafes or youth clubs and urged Dr. Iryani, the prime minister to take the initiative. Will the people in authority listen to this wise call?
Aden Free Zone: A Promised Land
In spite of the dismal picture of our ostentatiously current deteriorating economic conditions, the opening of the Container Terminal of the Aden Free Zone left a silver streak in our horizon. In the final analysis, economists believe that this zone could bring back its prosperous and bright past, where it served as a world trade route linking the Orient and the West. it is expected to catch a lot of investors due to its strategic trade position. In other words, it could provide the unemployed Yemeni workforce with a good number of work opportunities. This could breathe a new life into these people who are scattered in streets doing nothing. In fact, it could alleviate the hardships and ailments of these people who have been too patient with their government which talks much and works little. We do keep our fingers crossed in the hope that the Aden Free Zone would be a promised land full of employment. But this can’t take place unless the government ensure full application of law and order, the main ingredients for attractive many investments into the zone. so, will it do it? I hope so!
By: Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi,
Taiz Office Editor,
Yemen Times.

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