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HRW: Warring Parties in Yemen Restrict Women’s Movement

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02:52 2024/03/04
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 Parties to the conflict in Yemen, including the Houthi rebels, the Internationally recognized government, and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), are systematically violating women’s right to freedom of movement, Human Rights Watch reported today.

HRW latest report published Tuesday noticed that the authorities are barring women from traveling between governorates, and in some cases from travel abroad, without a male guardian’s permission or being accompanied by an immediate male relative.

The report found that Houthi rebels have drastically expanded restrictions against women’s movement in their territories since taking control of Sanaa, the capital, and much of northern Yemen in the last nine years. Yemeni government forces and STC have restricted women’s movement in the south.

“Instead of focusing their efforts on ensuring that people in Yemen have access to clean water and adequate food and aid, warring parties are spending their energy raising barriers to women’s freedom of movement,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain Researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch spoke with 21 women, mostly activists or women working with nongovernmental organizations, between August and November 2023 about the movement restrictions that they faced, and the impact this has had on their lives; as well as two men who work as private drivers transporting people between governorates.

Based on Human Rights Watch research, movement restrictions have affected women across all sectors of Yemeni society.

Several people interviewed also said that some checkpoint officials specifically targeted women working with nongovernmental organizations and humanitarian workers.

The UN has reported that these movement restrictions have forced many Yemeni women to leave their jobs at local and international nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies, because they do not have a relative who can accompany them on their crucial work travel, losing much-needed income for their families, and cutting off Yemeni women and girls from receiving humanitarian aid.

According to HRW report “The Yemeni government, the STC, and the Houthi’ movement restrictions violate Yemen’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and contradict Yemen’s constitution which also guarantees these rights.

The UN Panel of Experts on Yemen and the World Health Organization, among other international actors, have described the severe impacts that movement restrictions have had on women’s abilities to access health services.

 According to the International Rescue Committee, “Lifesaving and urgent services, including for sexual and reproductive health, the treatment of sexual violence related injuries, and the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, cannot reach women and girls who need them.”

جميع الحقوق محفوظة © قناة اليمن اليوم الفضائية
جميع الحقوق محفوظة © قناة اليمن اليوم الفضائية