On the job for nine monthsAlsoswa tries to improve Yemen’s human rights [Archives:2004/733/Community]

Amat Al-Aleem Ali Alsoswa's experience in different fields stretches wide. In the political arena, she has been a Yemeni Ambassador in several European countries, the Chairwoman for the Women National Committee, and she has held positions in the Ministry of Information. She was once a lecturer at Sana'a University. She also has experience working in the media, was an advisor to the United Nations, and she is a permanent representative to the Organization of Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons.
Nine months ago, Alsoswa took on a task that could be the most challenging she has ever faced. She was appointed as the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen, the first woman as a Yemeni full minister.
Yemen Times reporter Peter Willems spoke with Alsoswa about challenges she is facing and progress that has been made in human rights.

Q: After being the Minister of Human Rights for nine months, have you found this position to be challenging?
A: Being a minister can be a difficult job at any post, but being the Minister of Human Rights can be even more difficult. The bulk of the issues you are dealing with are related to any person in this country. And it is very difficult to be able to capture the main ideas, interests and problems of people regarding human rights, and awareness may be far from the realization of what we are talking about when we say human rights because we are suffering from illiteracy and people do not really understand their rights. And even if they do, they cannot really express their needs for their rights, so we are faced with a special challenge.
For these main reasons and other reasons it is not an easy job. But, again, it is very important to start tackling this issue because it's very important. And it is very important to me. I have been working as an activist, if you want to call it that, and this is the time and place to really try to do something and make a difference.

Q: What have been some of your responsibilities?
A: First of all, if you look at the Yemeni constitution, which is one of the very real constitutions in the Arab world, the human rights declaration is the basic root of its own legislative system. And that puts us in front of real challenges regarding the application of those rights. It has the principles of the constitution, and it is very unique. It is an obligation: It's not a favor for the people but a duty that we have to perform.
What we have done to start with is working as the main coordinating body in this government to work with other related ministries and agencies whose work is actually dealing with the question of human rights. All these agencies and ministries are working according to their own agendas and policies.
What we are doing is coordinating all the work related to the question of human rights, especially to the violations and the misuse of human rights. We have established a complaint mechanism in this ministry. People can come to us and complain about certain actions, laws, discrimination and so forth. We take it a step further and have to do it by law so we guarantee the rights of the people. This is exactly what is meant by the work in this ministry. We are really in the middle so we can pull together all the elements to guarantee that people have their own rights according to the laws and the established legal system.
We have established a commission representing about eleven other ministries and agencies who are working under my chairmanship so that we can deal with the question of human rights day-by-day. We have also established another commission represented by about 27 NGOs who are the people who are reporting to us the cases of human rights, the violations, and we also have a regular meeting every three months whereby we have to review what we have done and what things we have to tackle.
We also have other departments which are concerned mainly with the rights of children, women, the disabled, and so forth. We have other departments where we report on human rights. We have to issue a national report every year on the status of human rights in Yemen, and we have to answer to all the reports that are issued by agencies, like Amnesty International, the State Department, Human Rights Watch, and other agencies.

Q: What are some of the obstacles you have had to face?
A: The notion of human rights did not really come to this country as early as other countries. Many rights and liberties did not come to Yemen until very recently. We have had, unfortunately, a long history of other ways of life with not really dealing with the question of human rights. So this is really a new way of looking at things, a new approach.
You have to first deepen the idea and the understanding of human rights among the government and the people. You have to raise awareness, not only of the people but also of the government offices, like the different structures of the government to make them become aware of the way they are supposed to deal with things from that perspective. That is really a huge task. We have to start showing that we can accept that idea, and we have to build on that acceptance and direct our focus on certain issues. We have to work very hard to establish awareness of human rights, which is a long way to go.

Q: There have been complaints about detainees in Yemen not receiving fair legal procedures during the war on terrorism. What is the ministry's position on this?
A: We stand that, generally, all the detainees have to have access to lawyers, have to be accused legally and have to be presented in front of a fair, public trial. That is our stand in Yemen. Some of the detainees that escaped from the jail in Aden were hunted and found again. All of these detainees and all of the files have been sent to the prosecutor's office in preparation for a trial.
After September 11 there were a number of people who were detained for questioning and investigation, but now the ones that have a case with clear accusations will go to trial. There is also the Dialogue Committee to talk with them because they have held certain opinions regarding people who did not hold the same belief, the same religious view or that they thought other people did not deserve living.
That was a very scary thing for a country like Yemen where it has always been living in peace and accepting each other. That was perhaps the issue that people started talking about as to why they were not given freedom. But there was the question of security. Can you guarantee that if they go free they will not go out and commit crimes and kill people on the street? It was difficult to deal with.
As the Minister of Human Rights, I wish no one whatsoever to be held at any place without a justification. With those different approaches which were taken to solve this particular problem and dilemma – with part of it using the dialogue and also taking their files to the prosecutor's office – we hope that soon people will be able to witness the trial because it will be public.
The conference on human rights held earlier this month, which was organized by Amnesty International and other NGOs, was accepted to be held in Yemen to help us and anybody else take on the issue of this whole general notion of security versus the law. We are trying to find a way to work together and be parallel with one without the expense of the other.
In reality, it has proven to be very difficult to achieve. But we still have to insist there is always a place to have people's rights introduced before anything else. Of course it is very difficult to fight terrorism and maintain full human rights. Sometimes it seems impossible. But we are trying to make it less difficult. Progress has been made. I do not say we have solved it fully, but progress has been made and there will be more progress.

Q: Has the Ministry of Human Rights tried to help Yemenis being held at Guantanamo Bay?
A: We have tried our best. We have not been given access to meet them or do anything. We are responsible as a State to take care of our own citizens under any circumstances. We have continued direct contact with authorities of foreign affairs and the American government. We have never stopped facing the issue. We have gone to all the meetings, all the conferences, and so forth, to deal with it.
We are continuing our efforts. The conference by Amnesty International was effective to bring lawyers who have volunteered to do something about the issue. It was a chance for families to know more. Some of the families until today don't know if their sons are there, are alive or are dead. It has been a very long time and a very sad story. If you look at this whole notion of security on the international level and the fear of terrorism that has been left on all of us, you can understand how difficult it is.

Q: How is the ministry dealing with women's rights?
A: One of the problems is illiteracy. Women in general did not have the chance and the right to receive a normal, basic education until 1962. Forty years of progress is not very long. It is very little time. But it has had an impact on the education of women in this country, especially in the rural areas where there are still social norms that women should not do that and they should be kept to do the work in the house or on the farm.
That has been the number one problem, and it will continue until a certain clear national strategy has been implemented for the integration of women in this country. There have been political speeches and statements about the life of women, but what we lack is the implementation of this vision.
We have been working with ministries, NGOs, at the cabinet level, and with the women associations which are concerned with gender equality in this country. Now we have seen certain steps taken, like encouraging education, encouraging incentives for families to let girls go to school, building more schools for girls in rural areas, training many female teachers, and encouraging families to let their girls go to mixed schools. It has really paid off because we have seen the number of girls enrolled in schools increase.
Second, it is also the involvement and the credibility of the political parties accepting women as real full partners in the issue of participation in voting. A large number of women have voted, like in the last election when there were more than three million that went to vote. But they went to vote for their male family members or for the members of political parties who were men. There was only one woman who was elected.
That was a setback. It also shows the realities and the promises which were given during the election campaign. They were only of a political notion not reflecting a true belief in full participation.
That requires not only the changes of the mentality of the society but, most importantly, the political leadership of the parties to put women as candidates and not only to get them only interested in having them vote for them. All political parties have to have a national agenda on that, or the parties will put them in a position that they say what they don't do.
Thirdly, we need to look at the legislative body of this country and see if there is any discrimination against women. We think that there isn't much, except in certain laws. But what happens is that, for example, in the constitution most of the rules related to human rights, like the rights to work, the rights for salaries, and so forth, are not really the problems. The problem is that there is no application for it.
For example, while the constitution is calling for equality, regardless of gender, in reality we don't see women represented at least to even a very symbolic portion in society. Some say that it is too early and things will come so why should women rush? But we don't say that when it comes to applications of newly introduced ideas.
We are not denying that if you look at the situation of women ten years ago it is not the same today. There has been progress. Ten years ago they wouldn't believe that a woman would be able to become a judge, a lawyer, a police officer or a pilot. They wouldn't think of a woman being in the structure of a political party or being a professor in a university. These are steps of progress.
What we still don't see, and is a challenge, is how to have a real difference in norms in society in the way that people are perceiving women and accepting them before treating them.

Q: The government is focusing more attention on gun control and reducing revenge among tribesmen. Is the ministry involved in this?
A: Actually, most of the complaints that we receive are from revenge and people using guns. There is now a national commission on trying to solve ongoing revenge, and certain provinces have agreed on a five-year period without any revenge. Among those provinces are some that have been historically unsettled.
It has cost Yemen so many lives, including children and people who don't know how to use guns. The government has taken certain action, there are NGOs that are dealing with this, and we have distributed information about the misuse of weapons.
We have a big problem in this country that needs to be faced because it is affecting the lives and human rights of the Yemeni people.
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