Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Yemen’s Great Expectations



The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreement was considered as the best option for Yemen to transfer power "peacefully" and save it from slipping into a civil war and a "bloody Syria scenario. Many discontented Yemenis had no option but to accept it and had high hopes in a National Dialogue Conference that would lay the road map for Yemen's future. There is so much at stake for Yemenis and the "Friends of Yemen" who backed the GCC agreement, all of whom would not want to see it fail.

International backers of the GCC agreement which laid out the mechanism for the transfer of power in Yemen, ending president Ali Abdullah Saleh 33 year rule and outlining the phases of the 2-year transitional period, are eager to present Yemen as a successful model for the Arab spring. Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference has been described as “the most genuine, transparent and inclusive deliberate process the Arab region has ever witnessed” according to the United Nation Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Yemen, Jamal BenOmar who has been shuttling between New York and Sana’a to facilitate the conference.

"With dialogue we make the future" is the motto of Yemen's National Dialogue Conference, which consists of 565 delegates representing different factions of Yemen’s political spectrum, including the marginalized youth activists and women, civil society representatives, Huthis, and Hiraki Southern movement. It formed into 9 working groups to forge a national consensus for Yemen’s plan for the future, draft its constitution and pave the way to the 2014 presidential elections.

Many Yemenis disagree about its acclaimed success so far and have grown wary and disappointed with the process. There is a general feeling of ambiguity and apprehension surrounding the outcome of the National Dialogue Conference among Yemenis, which is very different in comparison to the hopeful vibes projected by the UN special advisor and in the statements by the "Friends of Yemen".

Originally set to begin in mid November, Yemen’s National Dialogue finally started in March 18, 2013. It had been scheduled to end six months later on September 18, yet further delays, disputes and withdraws caused it to be delayed even further by “one, two, or three months, but not more” as Mr. Abu-Baker Al-Qirbi, Yemen’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, was quoted saying.  In fact, the National Conference continues to drag on struggling to overcome the challenge of appeasing Yemen’s political elite while the human living conditions of millions of Yemeni citizens continues to deteriorate.  


Each of the members residing in the capital Sana’a are compensated $100 per day, those residing outside it are compensated $180 per day while sessions are being held in the five star Movenpick hotel. All of which raises speculation regarding the delegate’s, enjoying such benefits, commitment and eagerness to have the NDC end anytime soon. The apparent reluctance in achieving a consensus and the evident delay in the decision-making has broken confidence in the process altogether.  

Six months later, many issues discussed among the various working groups are not yet finalized, such as setting 18 years as the legal marriage age, the 30% quota for women in the three branches of government and the most challenging southern issue remains unresolved. There is evidently a lot of friction and resistance in the conference between existing partisan, political, tribal elite who are safeguarding their own interests and the 40 independent youth who are genuinely seeking to bring about real change for the country. The discontented Huthis and Hiraki factions frequent withdrawals, the last one during the plenary session prior to the Eid break make it unclear whether they will continue or cause the dialogue to fail and what will the final structure be of the suggested federal state to solve the Southern issue.

Just as the National Dialogue has been turbulent, Yemen’s transitional period has not been as smooth as expected nor hoped for. Over the past two years, Yemen has witnessed an unprecedented record of military assassinations, car bombings, destruction of oil pipe lines and electricity cables, kidnapping of foreigners and Yemenis, in addition to an increase in US drone strikes. Power outages as a result have been reported for days rather than hours in many parts of the country adding more obscurity to the challenging living conditions.

The political process and focus of the negotiation in the National Dialogue Conference moving forward overshadowed the security situation, humanitarian issues and economic reality that Yemen is undergoing.  Nearly half of Yemen’s 24 million population (10.5 million) do not have enough food, most (13.1 million) do not have access to safe water and sanitation, 431,000 are displaced and nearly half of Yemen’s children under five years (2 million) are stunted and 1 million are acutely malnourished. Yemenis live on $2 a day, illiteracy rate of both sexes (15 years and above) is almost 40%unemployment among the youth is at 40% and the country ranks last at 136 in the Global gender gap, 156 out of 176 n the Transparency International 2013 Corruption Index and 6th in the 2013 Failed States Index.

Besides the overzealous outcomes hoped from the NDC in resolving national issues resulting from 30 years of conflict, mismanagement and corruption, Yemen is also faced with the challenge of restoring political security and economic stability which is required to improve the lives of millions of Yemenis who struggle daily due to the lack of access to food, water, electricity, fuel, health services, education and employment. Yemenis are looking hopefully to the NDC to improve their lives, without any further delays.

Some observers consider the NDC a failure so far, while others feel there is so much at stake now that if it does not succeed and without an alternative plan B, the country risks slipping into a civil war. Yet the NDC is not only faced with many challenges to reach its targets, once it concludes, the real challenge will be in passing the recommend laws and agreements in a GPC (General People’s Conference, Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’ s ruling party) and Islah (Conservative Party) dominated parliament. Accountability, political commitment and a strong government are needed to implement the desired outcomes. It is therefore not in Yemen’s interest to have any further delays since the road to change is still arduous and long and many Yemenis are losing patience in the process.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

US Drones Killed Her Family, Does Anyone Care?


"Nada", a young girl who survived the US military strike on the community of al-Majalah in Yemen, in a film still from “Dirty Wars”

She walked out and gazed at the clear blue sky,
Dreading to hear the humming noise or spot the killers that fly.

Her eyes searched, filled with tears,
Painful memories mixed with fears.

The tragedy happened when she was only three.
Yet the cries, the fire, the horror she can still hear, feel and see.

Missile strikes burnt her house and obliterated her entire family.
She was the only survivor who managed to flee.

Her caring father and loving mother are no longer there.
Brothers, sisters, even cousins she played with all vanished, how was that fair?

She has become a lonely orphan with a heartbreaking stare,
Nothing left for her but anguish and nightmares; more than a child can bear.

She wondered, US missiles and drones strikes kill indiscriminately causing pain and despair,
Claim to target "terrorists" which her family wasn't, but does anyone care?
Can anyone stop them, speak out against them, does anyone dare?

This is the story of many families in Yemen for you to share.
Thank you for reading it and for the time you can spare,
to speak up for them and show them WE CARE. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

What Human Rights Do Yemenis Have?!


I am a Yemeni blogger participating in Blog Action Day 2013, which aims each year to raise awareness about a global topic. The topic selected this year is Human Rights. As far as I know, I am the only Yemeni blogger participating this year. Hence, I will be writing about human rights in my country, but let us first get a general understanding of what human rights are by watching this short video which lists the 30 articles in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.


Now I seriously wonder how many of these universal rights do Yemenis actually have or even realize that they are entitled to. Since this is a blog post I will keep it short and just pinpoint a few of them here.

While food and shelter are a basic human right the UN estimates that more than 10 million people — nearly half of the population — goes hungry or are short of food. Child malnutrition rates are among the highest in the world with close to half of Yemen’s children under the age of five are stunted. Some people in Yemen do not even have houses and are forced to live in caves.

While people have the right to education, illiteracy rate in Yemen is among the highest in the region, 60% for women and 30% for men. Public schools in the capital Sanaa and in many cities are in appalling conditions while there aren't enough schools in many rural areas. Children seeking an education have to walk for miles to reach schools in neighboring towns. Due to economic and social reasons girls education are cut short and are forced by their families to marry. According to HRW 50% of girls in Yemen marry before the age of 18, and 15% marry before the age of 14. In some cases they were as young as 8. There have been many cases of victims of child marriage in Yemen who die in their wedding night from bleeding while others lose their lives while giving birth.

While freedom of opinion and expression is a right, journalist in Yemen are under threat for speaking their mind and reporting on violations. And while article 12 and 20 state "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile" and "everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and association", many youth activist in the 2011 revolution who peacefully marched demanding a better life and a change of the regime were killed, arrested and tortured while some are still forcibly disappeared.

Article 18 clearly states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion yet religion has often been misused in Yemen by radical religious cleric as a tool to declare those who challenge the fundamentalist norms as infidels in order to intimidate and silence them.


"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services..." as stated in article 25, yet the average Yemeni has none of those rights and the list goes on and on. 

Two years after Yemen's 2011 revolution calling for change, the living conditions of most Yemenis unfortunately deteriorated. Electricity power blackouts across the country have been reported not only for long hours in a day but for days. Yemenis have also been suffering from a shortage in water, fuel and food supply which have been greatly affected due to the economic conditions that the country is undergoing which is putting the lives of many at risk. Therefore the sad reality is that while citizens of the world are demanding more human rights, citizens in Yemen are still struggling today, not only for their basic human rights such as eduction and healthcare - let alone the struggle for democracy, freedom and social equality - but for basic necessities such as food, water and electricity. 

Where Are the Rights of Egypt's Most Vulnerable Children?

Today is Blog Action Day 2013, an event in which bloggers around the world write on the same day about the same global topic to help raise awareness. So far 1,975 blogs from 124 countries across 26 languages are participating. This year the topic selected is Human Rights. 
Human Rights according to the United Nations, are inherent to all human beings regardless of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. I choose to focus on the rights of, or rather the lack of, the most vulnerable children.



I am writing this post to draw attention to the plight of the most abused, deprived and vulnerable children in Egypt who's childhood, dreams and innocence have been stollen and rights have been negated. Egypt's street children are children who have been doomed to a life of verbal, physical and sexual abuse, from the minute they were born until their often tragic death. These children are primarily victims of an abusive parent or family whom they have escaped from to the streets, and are also victims of a society that turned it's back on them by ostracizing and rejecting them instead of caring for and supporting them. They are children who have been forced to a harsh life in the streets begging, selling small items, trafficking in drugs or been subject to prostitution in order to survive. In their struggle to live they have been exposed to addiction, exploitation, humiliation, rape and violence by various adults, family members and strangers.



This post called "Street Children: The Shackles of Vulnerability vividly paints some of the horrors that these children endure in their short yet miserable life. Many heart breaking stories are recounted in this blog post by Nelly Ali, a lecturer and Childhood Studies PhD candidate with a big heart who dedicates a lot of her time and effort to street children in Egypt.

Although there are no official statistics, it has been estimated that there are around two million street children in Egypt according to a 2011 study, conducted by Egypt’s National Center for Social and Criminological Research (NSCR). One thing is for certain though, these numbers have grown over the past two years and continue to do so. Street children are marginalized and treated as outcast by society and often neglected by the government. They are mostly aided by NGOs and charities which are often supported by compassionate individuals engaged in civil society work.  



We should all ask ourselves these questions: Don't these children have the right to a better life? Don't they too have the right to safety, shelter, health and education among other things, yet above all the right to be cared for and loved? Don't we all have a responsibility towards them, to make their life better? Let us work together to improve their living condition. Your contribution is crucial to achieve that. Here is what we can do for them:
  • Offer a smile, a gentle touch or a casual conversation to a street child you encounter. That in itself can mean a lot to them.
  • Research which NGOs help street children and get involved.
  • Seek shelters for street children and find ways to support them 
  • Visit street children in shelters and show them that they are loved and cared for by visiting them periodically.
  • Campaign to exert pressure on the government to build more shelters for street children and design rehabilitative programs in order to integrate them into the society.
  • Help raise awareness about their plight through articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos.
  • Above all, let's not just feel sorry for them, lets take action!

More links:

http://www.unicef.org/egypt/protection_4397.htmlhttp://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/04/14/street-children-what-they-are-not/
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/04/14/street-children-what-they-are-not/