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Children's Rights in Yemen

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Children's Rights in Yemen Shadow Report on Children’s Rights in Yemen Prepared By: Civil Society Organizations in Yemen In cooperation and coordination with Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF), a corresponding member of the International Federation for Human Rights May, 2005 Introduction: The republic of Yemen is located in the south of the Arabia Peninsula and is approximately 555,0001 square kilometers in size. The geographic nature of the country varies in different areas (mountainous, hilly, coastal, desert, and islands). The political system is a republic and the Yemeni constitution views the Islamic Shari’a as the main source of laws. The constitution separates legislative, executive and judicial authorities. The government- in accordance with it written resolutions- allows the existence of multiple political parties and the peaceful exchange of power. Parliament and presidential elections are routinely held. Political parties carry out their activities according to political party laws. The country implements decentralization through local councils in all 20 governorates, in addition to the capital Sana’a. Yemen is classified as a third world country and the poorest country in the Arab world. The Yemeni people depend largely on agriculture and are governed by tribes and tribal traditions. The Yemeni judicial system is weak and is not independent. Reports done by the WB and other international organizations show that corruption is widespread in all governmental institutions which in turn weakens the judicial system. The result is violation of human rights although the country has signed various human rights Convention and established a Human Rights Ministry in 2003. The government has also allowed the establishment of various human rights organizations and civil society institutions. The population of Yemen is approximately 19,721,643 people, according to the last census (December 2004); females make up 49.3% of the population while males make up the remaining 50.7%. The population is distributed among 20 governorates in addition to the capital. The population growth has, according to the last census, decreased to reach an average of 3.02%2. The population is distributed in rural and urban areas and the country – especially rural areas- lacks many essential services. The country contains a minority of Jews in addition to a neglected population known as Akhdam. According to the number of houses built in 2003 and the family health survey of the same year children ages newborn-18 years old make up 55% of the population. This segment of the population which makes up half the present and all of the future is affected greatly by the weak economic growth and increasing poverty. We find that there are 5 million children between the ages of 6-15 (school age) but elementary schools are only able to absorb 68.5 percent of these children, 38% of who are females. There are more than 1,700,000 children ages 16-18, only 31.5% are absorbed by high schools , 70.7% of which are males. This is in addition to the high dropout rate at different stages especially among females. Child labor has increased due to the weak economical and social conditions and the continuous deterioration of living conditions. One of the occupations carried out by children is begging. The begging phenomenon has spread among all ages but most beggars are children who have been forced to beg by their guardians. The health situation is not any better, the death rates of newborns and children aged 1-4 are among the highest in the world. The family health survey (2003) reported that 82.4% of deaths are between 0-1 years of age, and 32.5% are between 1-4 years of age. Diseases such as Malaria, Typhoid, and Diarrhea remain major causes of death. There is one doctor for every 6372 patients and one bed for each 1662 patients. In addition, the sale of children across borders has become widespread. These children are endangered and in many cases sexually abused. I - General measures of implementation 1) Report writing according to the guidelines set by CRC 1 The area has not been updated after the border agreement was signed with neighboring countries 2 The previous percentage was 3.5% 1. The ministry of Human rights has recently attempted to improve reporting to the Committees by conducting training for its staff in addition to a number of staff from various civil society organization. Although this is an encouraging attempt it is not enough. 2. Another problem is that the government writes the reports without involving the civil society. The Yemeni government prepares and submits the report to the Children’s Rights Committee in Geneva. It did not however share the document except with a few selective civil society organizations. It also does not open the comments made by the CRC for discussion by different parties in the Yemeni society or the media. The result is the limited spread and distribution of these comments. 2) Inconsistency of present laws with the main principles of the convention Even though the country has adopted laws to protect children’s rights and signed the optional protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflicts and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, it has not taken any action to solve the inconsistency between present laws and the main principles of the convention. This can be seen in the following: A. Although article (6) of the constitution states that Yemen is committed to follow any agreement or convention it signs, it does not enforce the principles of these conventions/agreements as laws by naming them clearly in straightforward articles. The Islamic Shari’a requires Yemen to honor all articles included in any convention/agreement it signs and to enforce all articles as if they were part of the Shari’a itself.3 This is not taken into consideration by the government which only enforces the parts of the Shari’a that are in their interest. B. The constitution also states in article (30) that it is the country’s duty to protect and foster mothers, children and youth. C. Children’s rights law number (45) for the year 2002: Although the children’s rights law does contain many aspects of the convention it sets the juvenile age at 7-15 which does not follow the age set by the convention itself or by civil law D. Criminal prosecution law (13) for the year 1994: This law treats children age 7-15 as juveniles and prosecutes them accordingly. Under this law the maximum penalty that can be imposed upon children of this age it one third (1/3) of the maximum penalty stated in the criminal prosecution law. Children between the ages of 15-18 are considered to hold partial responsibility for their actions and the maximum penalty that can be imposed upon them is half (1/2) the maximum penalty stated in the criminal prosecution law. If the penalty is the death sentence the child is instead sentenced to 3-10 years jail time. This is a clear violation of article (1) of the convention which states that a child means every human being below the age of eighteen. It is also inconsistent with the article (50) of the civil law which states that maturity begins at the age of fifteen. E. Labor Law Number (5) for the year 1995: Articles 49-53 of the labor law are in violation of articles (26:1.2) and (36) of the Convention which state that social security and welfare are the right of every child 3 An example is that the prophet (saw) followed all the articles of the Hudaibia agreement although some articles were against Islamic law The case is the same with the civil services law which states that the legal age to apply for a job is 18 but an exception may be made at the age of 16 which disagrees with article (1.2:26) concerning the right to social security. The law also fails to agree with article (28) which states that financial support should be given to children to ensure that they remain in schools and to decrease the number of dropouts. F. Amended social status law number (24) for the year 1999: Article (1) of this law is against the Convention because it gives the guardian of a child the right to marry her off. The law does not state a legal age for marriage which leads to the spread of early age marriages especially in rural areas among females 10-11 years old. This leads to many physical, psychological and social problems. G. Juvenile Justice Law number (24) for the year 1992: Article (11:B) of this law makes it legal for children at the age of twelve to be arrested and kept in custody in any police department which clearly disagrees with article (37:C) of the Convention. H. Citizenship law number (6) for the year 1990: This law prohibits the transfer of Yemeni citizenship from mother to child if the mother is married to a foreigner. Also, the law prohibits the transfer of Yemeni citizenship to the father (from his wife). The law also states that for the children to acquire citizenship the parents must be divorced or the father must be deceased, mentally ill, missing or unknown. This law was amended in January 2002 and it was clearly stated that citizenship may not be transferred from mother to child. The law also prevents them from requesting citizenship at any stage of their childhood and sets 18 as a legal age to request citizenship. At the age of 18 citizenship may be acquired if the unreasonable conditions set by the law are followed.
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