Corporate report

Yemen - country of concern, latest update 30 June 2014

Updated 21 January 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Significant violations of human rights continued during this period. Whilst some progress has been made in providing the framework for change, little has been done to implement it, and considerable work needs to be done by the government of Yemen to ensure practices improve. Little progress has been made in this period on taking forward the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) recommendations on key human rights issues, although the government has signed an Action Plan with the UN to end and prevent the recruitment of children by the Yemeni Armed Forces, and endorsed the Statement of Action from the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The death penalty remains on the statute book. Women continue to be discriminated against in all aspects of their lives. Legislation on the minimum age for marriage and accession to the Rome Statute have been blocked by the Yemeni parliament. The humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen remains dire.

On 25 May Human Rights Watch published a report alleging government of Yemen complicity in the abuse of migrants by human traffickers in Yemen. The evidence is consistent with that uncovered by the media, including the BBC, in 2013. The UK has pressed the government of Yemen to reconsider the evidence that has been submitted to them, press charges where there is sufficient evidence of wrong-doing, and take steps to ensure this will not happen again.

On 24 April, the President established a National Authority which will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of all NDC recommendations, including receiving the draft constitution, prior to it being submitted to a national referendum.

The Constitutional Drafting Committee, tasked with turning recommendations from the NDC into a new constitution for Yemen, has begun its work and will produce a draft constitution later this year. The UK will be paying close attention to how NDC recommendations on issues such as reconciliation and conflict resolution, a commission to investigate possible human rights violations in 2011, a minimum age for marriage, and freedom of religious belief and practice, will be included in the draft constitution which will go to a referendum.

The government of Yemen presented a draft law on Safer Motherhood to parliament in February, which included an article on a minimum age for marriage. Parliament rejected this article, and passed the law without it.

On 27 April, the Minister of Legal Affairs submitted to Prime Minister Mohammad Basindwa a draft law on Child Rights. The draft law is comprehensive: it sets the age of marriage for boys and girls at 18 years; prohibits the practice of FGM; prohibits the use or recruitment of child soldiers; and prohibits child labour in line with international legal standards. The draft law has been informed by a review of compliance with international standards on the rights of the child. The Ministry of Legal Affairs has led the process in close cooperation with Ministry of Human Rights and Minister of Social Affairs and Labour. Following a Cabinet discussion of the draft law in late June, the Prime Minister appointed a committee to review the law and resolve objections that had been raised to it. Whilst this is a positive step, given that language on the minimum age for marriage has recently been rejected by the Yemeni parliament, we have strong concerns that it will be rejected again. If passed, the government of Yemen will need to work hard to ensure the widespread adoption of the law.

Yemen is currently listed by the UN Secretary General as one of eight countries whose national security forces recruit and use children. On 14 May, Yemen signed an Action Plan with the UN to end and prevent the recruitment of children by the Yemeni Armed Forces. The action plan sets out concrete steps to release all children associated with the Government Security Forces, reintegrate them into their communities, and prevent further recruitment. The Yemeni Government Forces will be removed from the Secretary-General’s list upon successful completion and verification by the UN of all measures agreed to in the action plan. There continue to be reports of non-state actors recruiting and using children in conflict. The UK has encouraged the government of Yemen to document and report instances of child soldiers to the UN properly.

On 8 May, an American journalist, Adam Baron, was deported from Yemen without charge. On 11 June, members of the presidential guard force entered the offices of Yemen Today TV, stopping it from broadcasting and confiscating its equipment. The UK has raised its concerns with the government over freedom of the press, and associated itself with a G10 Ambassadors’ statement of 16 June which supported media freedoms and called both on the government of Yemen and media bodies to agree a Code of Conduct that holds organisations to high ethical standards whilst maintaining media freedoms.

We have not received any reports that the death penalty has been given as a sentence nor that minors have been executed so far in 2014. There have been at least 13 occasions where adults found guilty of murder have been executed for their crimes during this period. We have also received reports that tribes in Al Dara’an and Al Dhali have executed individuals accused of murder.

During its Universal Periodic Review on 19 June, Yemen made commitments to address a range of human rights recommendations raised by other UN member countries. It has, however, yet to issue a response to 25 of the recommendations, most of which focus on the death penalty.

During this quarter, a Yemeni human rights delegation, led by the Yemeni Minister for Human Rights and the Minister for Legal Affairs, travelled to the UK on a UNDP-sponsored visit to help develop thinking on establishing an independent Human Rights Commission in Yemen. Amongst others, they met Scotland’s Commission for Human Rights, the Justice Committee in the Scottish Parliament, and senior Foreign & Commonwealth Office officials, who confirmed their support and encouragement for the government of Yemen. At its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcome session in June, Yemen accepted the UK’s recommendation to establish a commission to investigate the alleged human rights violations in 2011.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as civil society representatives attended the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict on 10-13 June. The UK funded the non-government participants in the summit and in addition made a donation to the running costs of a women’s refuge in Sana’a.

Yemen has previously endorsed the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Embassy in Sana’a continues to lobby them to turn political commitments on sexual violence in conflict into practical actions including support for survivors.

The UK is also working closely with the government of Yemen on improving its human rights compliance in key areas of the criminal justice system, with a specific focus on prisons.