Geneva: Hundreds of women are placed under arbitrary detention because of their political stances and their social and humanitarian activities in strife-torn Yemen. There are many violations of international law, particularly for women who are in prison.They are deprived of their rights to a fair trial due to the lack of legal aid or recourse, the slow pace of the litigation procedures by the judges, as well as the high financial cost for litigation and the suspension of judicial work due to the judicial strike, which has resulted in an increase of violence against women and exposed them to exploitation.
While briefing the ‘Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’ on the situation of women in Yemen on October 25, 2021, civil society representatives alleged that grave violations and abuses against women and girls had reached an unprecedented level in Yemen. Women were ruled out of any decision-making process and there was no female Minister, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, informed here.
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The speakers pointed out that women were totally excluded from public life, and this situation could be seen in all sectors. Discriminatory legal provisions coupled with the collapse of the legal system has contributed to the deterioration of the protection of women and enhanced impunity. There are no support structures for victims, and women were deprived of their right to access justice and a fair trial. One speaker said there was no functioning legal system through which family laws could operate.
While the government was not prioritising gender justice and continues to violate women’s rights, the activists charged that the use of gender-based violence by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, were being reported.
“The Committee must highlight the injustices against Yemeni women caused by the discriminatory legal framework, which had been exacerbated for years by the conflict,” another activist said.
Incidentally, as one speaker pointed out, the Yemeni Government did take a positive step to amend the nationality law to expand the right of Yemeni women to confer nationality on their children. However, this right for women, which included a retroactive application of only three years, could not been widely implemented due to the conflict.
– global bihari bureau
