Background of the Study
Human right violation in the developing countries is one of the most debated topics in the contemporary academic and policy fields. Thanks to globalization and the interdependence of the whole world any domestic issue could come up for the debate and discussion in wider perspective. For a comprehensive study of the topic we have to look into various aspects of the human rights. There is a debate in the academic circle regarding the universality of the human rights and the proponents of the patriarchal society are still putting a stiff resistance to the universality of the human rights and justify their practices saying that the human rights that the west has promoted is an extension of the western culture and is a weapon to make inroad into the cultural sphere of the traditional societies.
Apart from this issues there are people who are still arguing that the so called ‘human right violations’ are part and parcel of their society and the changes in this regard would lead to the erosion of their cultural roots. The overall status of the women in general and in third world in particular would be taken into account for the purpose. However, studies on the human rights have got scant attention in countries where the authoritarian governments are ruling. This is why there is very less research works on the human rights in the West Asian region in general and Yemen in particular. Here I would make an attempt to explore the human rights of women in Yemen and would account to what extent they are deprived of their human rights. The study becomes all the more difficult as there are not much research and the government is very much aware of its image in the outside world as it would invite harsh criticism as well as demand for delivering human rights to women.
As the most important area of activity of any human being is society the human rights violations in the social area acquire much more importance. In this part, given the patriarchal nature of the society companied with Islamic sharia as the basis of the day to day life overarching all areas of life including marriage, family, birth and death and role of woman in society a number of major questions would be discussed in this part. The paper would also assess the political economic rights too. The study is supposed to bring out the inherent problem in the society that perpetuates the dependent role of women and their vulnerability to the deprivation of the rights. The paper would also bring out the development in the field including the different conventions and treaties that the state of Yemen has signed in order to bring a global standard. The achievement that the state has made in ensuring the women rights in different fields would be discussed.
Let us come to the political scene of Yemen and the overall picture of the treatment of women in society. The Yemeni woman before the September 1962 and October 1963 revolutions had suffered greatly from being marginalized and isolated from all life activities; socially, economically, culturally and politically. She had been deprived of many if not all rights. For instance the woman was deprived of education, except for daughters of the well-to-do families whether in Sana’a or Aden (Yemen). Teaching girls at that time was confined to learning principles of reading and writing and the Koran while the girl in Aden managed to get a better amount of primary school stage education. This situation continued till the eruption of the revolution after which the woman began the road of struggle for getting her right to education, work and indiscriminating equality in order to remove the injustice imposed on her, although the two former constitutions of the two parts of Yemen had approved the principle of equality between man and woman. The permanent constitution in the former North Yemen of 1970 stipulated in its articles 22 and 34 that the women have equal rights and duties and those women rights are guaranteed according to the Islamic law. The constitution issued in 1978 in the former southern Yemen stipulated in its article 26 that the state guarantees equal rights for men and women in fields of political, economic, social and cultural life and provides the conditions and circumstances that enable the woman to practice her right. Despite of those constitutional texts the woman role remained limited as a result of what the imamate and the colonization had left behind them of a heavy legacy of ignorance, backwardness and poverty that affected the life of the Yemeni people for a long time and their impact is still seen till today. The period of Yemen’s division had squandered the country’s wealth and exhausted them in areas far from and beyond the interests of the homeland and the citizen. But the May 22 of 1990 has represented a historic turning-point in the life of the Yemenis and the Arab nation as a whole when the Yemen got reunited again. Then began the new age of democracy, political pluralism and the freedom of expression. The united Yemen began to implement its development plan for improving conditions of the citizens, among which was the focusing on the woman as considered half of the society. In Yemen the woman does not practically represent half of the society but more than that in figure. The number of females in Yemen is 8.255.000 million, i.e., 50.1% while males are 8.229.000 million, i.e., 49.9%, according to Arab Human Development Report 2003. The amended Yemeni Constitution of 1994 adopted multiple Human Rights principles.
Article 6 stipulates that the state confirms that it will act according to the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are the generally recognized rules of international law.
Yemen is a party to the following human rights agreements:
• The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• The Convention Relating the Status of Refugees
• The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
• The international Convention on the Ban of Genocide
• The international Convention on War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.
• The international Convention on women Political Rights.
• The Convention on marriage Consent and Minimum Marriage Age and Marriage Contracts Registration.
• The Convention on the Ban of human trading and exploitation.
• The International Convention on the prohibition racial Discrimination.
• The International Convention on the Rights of the Child
• The international Convention on Anti- Torture, Cruel Treatment and Inhumanity
• The 1994 Geneva Agreement and their 1997 Annexed Protocol.
In spite of the Yemeni Constitution of 1994, which stipulates equal rights for Yemeni citizens, women are still struggling with various constraints and secondary status. Yemen’s Personal Status Law in particular, which covers matters of marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, gives women fewer rights than men, excludes women from decision making, and deprives them of access to, and control over, resources and assets. The right to divorce is not given to women equally. It is far more difficult for a woman to divorce a man. A man may divorce a woman at will. While man may divorce without justifying their action in court, a woman must present adequate justification. Women face many practical, social, and financial negative considerations in divorce procedure. The minimum marriage age has been abolished, and in practice, marriages are consummated when the bride is as young as nine years old. This is deeply associated with cultural tradition and the virginity and moral virtue of girls in the society. Also, an unmarried girl is considered to be a nuisance and an economic burden for her family. However, pregnancy at early age, when a girl’s body has not fully developed, increases the likelihood of miscarriage or other maternal complications. Early marriage also stops girls’ education, which leads to low female enrollment rates and one of the largest education gaps between boys and girls in the world. Women’s access to maternal health care is severely restricted. In most cases, husbands decide women’s fertility. It is hard for women to obtain contraception, or to take operation for treatment without a husband’s permission. Yemen’s high child mortality rate and the fourth fastest growing population in the world are attributed to a lack of women’s decision-making in their pregnancy and access to healthcare services. Women are vulnerable to sexual assault by prison guards, and there is a lower, if any, punishment for violence against women than men. The law stipulates protection women from domestic violence, but in fact there are few protections for women who suffer from domestic violence and no systematic investigation of such occurrences has been conducted. Spousal abuse or domestic violence is not generally reported to the police because of social norms and customs, meaning that women remain silent under these abuses.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
(Anthony Chase, Amr Hamzawy) Discussed why have human rights been marginalized in the Arab world? How do we gauge the relevance of human rights in the region, given the political, social, and economic context? What are the practical and theoretical obstacles to the implementation of these rights? Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices offers perspectives from those at the forefront of research on human rights and Islam, globalization, transnational advocacy, and the politics of key states such as Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Some chapters provide essential historical background to current political realities, while others consider ways to confront this region’s practical and theoretical challenges to human rights. (Sheila Carapico) Sheila Carapico’s book on civic participation in modern Yemen makes a path breaking contribution to the study of political culture in Arabia. The author traces the complexities of Yemen’s history over the last fifty years, considering its response to the colonial encounter and to years of civil unrest. Challenging the stereotypical view of conservative Arab Muslim society, she demonstrates how the country is actively seeking to develop the political, economic and social structures of the modern democratic state. This is an important book which promises to become the definitive statement on twentieth-century Yemen.
(David P. Forsythe, Patrice C. McMahon)tSaid in his book the development and study of human rights have increased significantly over time and have seen an intensified interest at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Much can be learned about the status of universal human rights by approaching the subject from regional perspectives. These diverse vantage points shed new light on the importance and complexity of the issues. David P. Forsythe and Patrice C. McMahon have brought together a collection of essays from top scholars in their fields. Each essay examines how a region, as defined by geography or culture, affects the standards and practice of human rights in a particular area. The issues discussed human rights Muslim states, the prospects and challenges of human rights in the Middle East, the role of women and tradition in Africa, and accommodating diversity in Europe. The collection also includes essays commenting on the parameters and intersections of international human rights in relation to area studies.
Edward H. Lawson, Mary Lou Bertucci, Laurie S. Wiseberg define the concept of human rights in all its diversity: the rights of individuals, peoples and nations; the rights to employment, education, culture and personal development; rights to a peaceful existence and to a clean, healthy environment; rights in the workplace; rights of special groups, such as the handicapped and the homeless; rights in war; and rights on land, sea and air. It also defines basic human needs, the right to assembly, and the right to cultural enjoyment, and analyzes legal decisions and international accords that have made these terms concrete realities. The encyclopaedia analyzes and reproduces the national and international documents and instruments which have affirmed or violated rights. It also includes landmark legal and legislative decisions in the field of human rights. There is also information on more than 130 non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, such as the UN, the OAS and the Council of Europe.; All entries in this second edition have been updated to reflect current events, including new treaties, covenants and UN reports. (Suad Joseph, Afsaneh Najmabadi)1000 scholars from around the world, the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures crosses history, geographic borders and disciplines to create a ground-breaking reference work reflecting the very latest research on gender studies and the Islamic world. No other reference work offers this scale of contributions or depth and breadth of coverage. Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures is set to become an essential reference work for students and researchers in the fields of gender studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, as well as scholars of religion, history, politics, anthropology, geography and related disciplines.(Anthony Chase, Amr Hamzawy)Why have human rights been marginalized in the Arab world? How do we gauge the relevance of human rights in the region, given the political, social, and economic context? What are the practical and theoretical obstacles to the implementation of these rights?. Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices offers perspectives from those at the forefront of research on human rights and Islam, globalization, transnational advocacy, and the politics of key states such as Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Some chapters provide essential historical background to current political realities, while others consider ways to confront this region’s practical and theoretical challenges to human rights. By placing the question of human rights in the often tragic context of Arab politics, the very real stakes are made clear. ( Eugene Cotran, University of London. Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, Martin Lau) The Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law is the flagship publication of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL) of the school of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. It is increasingly regarded as the leading international forum for commentary on, and analysis of, emerging issues in a field of study of ever increasing global significance. There is no more useful and thorough precis of what has happened in Islamic and Middle Eastern law over the last year. With Volume 8 -and the advent of Martin Lau as co-editor with Eugene Cotran- the Yearbook begins an expansion of its purview into non-Arab Islamic countries, beginning in this volume with essays covering issues in Afghanistan and Kenya. The Yearbook will continue to be an authoritative source of insightful commentary and scholarship on relevant developments wherever the influence of Islamic law is felt.(Fons Coomans, Menno T. Kamminga)Be as it is the result of the war on terrorism, foreign military intervention, economic globalisation or otherwise, state conduct increasingly affects the human rights of individuals beyond its own borders. This book provides a comprehensive answer to the question whether existing human rights treaties are applicable in such circumstances. The principal treaties on civil and political rights require states to guarantee certain human rights to persons within their jurisdiction. What is the meaning of these terms? Are states able to evade the application of these treaties by detaining their opponents on foreign soil rather than within their own borders? Does it make a difference to the applicability of these treaties, whether a victim of an extraterritorial assassination by state agents, was a detainee, who had not been arrested? By contrast, treaties on economic, social and cultural rights tend to specifically to provide that states must strive for the full realisation of these rights(Sheila Carapico).Sheila Carapico’s book on civic participation in modern Yemen makes a pathbreaking contribution to the study of political culture in Arabia. The author traces the complexities of Yemen’s history over the last fifty years, considering its response to the colonial encounter and to years of civil unrest. Challenging the stereotypical view of conservative Arab Muslim society, she demonstrates how the country is actively seeking to develop the political, economic and social structures of the modern democratic state. This is an important book which promises to become the definitive statement on twentieth-century Yemen.
Yemen is a very poor country; the Government’s human rights record continues to be poor. The Constitution limits freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government frequently harassed, intimidated, and detained journalists. Journalists practice self-censorship. The Government at times limits freedom of assembly. The Government imposes some restrictions on freedom of religion. There were some limits on freedom of movement. Violence and discrimination against women are problems. Female genital mutilation is practiced on a limited scale, primarily along the coastal areas of the Red Sea. Although the practice is discouraged publicly, the authorities do not prohibit it. Discrimination against the disabled and racial and ethnic minorities, and to a lesser extent, religious minorities, is a problem. The Government influences labor unions. Child labor is a problem.
However, the Government continued to take some steps to address human rights problems. These steps included holding of the country’s first direct presidential election, implementing limited political and legal reforms, displaying official receptiveness to and support for donor-funded democracy and human rights programs, and convicting three security officials for human rights abuses. In June the Government hosted the first Emerging Democracies Forum, a major international conference of 16 democratizing countries.
At the invitation of the authorities, delegations from the U.N. Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) and Amnesty International (AI) visited Yemen in 1998 to observe the human rights situation and make recommendations. One NGO, Penal Reform International (PRI), conducted a series of prison reform-related events from September 1998 to February. The Government continued to implement a comprehensive, long-term program for judicial reform.
If the woman in previous eras was deprived of simplest rights guaranteed for her by religion and then the constitution and laws, her participation in politics would be then a kind of imagination, perhaps the woman herself did not imagine that time would come when she would go to the polling box that would take her to the parliament or there would be political pluralism and the woman would be part of that pluralism or becomes a member of the government. Despite of the coercive circumstances the woman, especially those who were under the circumstances of the British colonization, had taken part in resisting colonialism by taking part in demonstrations condemning the occupation and the demand for independence to taking arms and fighting.
The permanent constitution in the former North Yemen of 1970 stipulated in its articles 22 and 34 that the women have equal rights and duties and those women rights are guaranteed according to the Islamic law. The constitution issued in 1978 in the former southern Yemen stipulated in its article 26 that the state guarantees equal rights for men and women in fields of political, economic, social and cultural life and provides the conditions and circumstances that enable the woman to practice her right. At the people’s council and the central committee of the Yemeni Socialist Party her participation in the north was late until the foundation of the General People’s Congress in 1982 that included one woman and then rose to 6 members in 1993. Till 1982 there was a dispute in the north about nomination of the woman to the Shoura Council and then the situation settled in that she would be allowed for voting but not candidacy. Among the changes effected after the unity is he political pluralism which led to the declaration of tens of political parties that used to work underground and began to have headquarters and press expressing the visions and orientations of each party. Woman participation in began strongly in the political and partisan affiliation and requests offered for parties declaration included names of many women. The woman has ascended the scale of party positions or political organization till they managed to attain central committees and general secretariat. As for her participation in the parliament and local councils as voter and candidate he following statistics explain that 41 party member and independent women have nominated themselves in elections of 1993, but only two of them had won for the YSP against 229 in order to be 301, the number of seats of the parliament. In the elections of 1997 woman voters were 501591 and 35 women nominated themselves but one candidate woman from the GPC win a seat in the parliament. In the 2003 parliamentary elections the number of woman voters exceeded three millions and only 11 women have nominated themselves for the parliamentary seats and only one candidate from the ruling party has won a seat in an apparent retreat of the woman position in the parliament and political parties abandoning of supporting her in the political process. The low proportion of the woman nominees compared to the previous proportion in the two former parliaments ushers a retreat resulting from the civil society’s incapacity in scoring progress in favour of women. Although the government has announced it would offer great concessions for woman nominees but it did not do that and presented a number of candidates much less than expected from the ruling party, was the support for one woman candidate in Aden. This low proportion in woman nomination for parliament reflects the state of irresolution by a group of political and intellectual and social elements that are still hindering the qualitative change in the political life and also could be attributed to failure of civil society organisations, despite the numerous workshops and symposiums for upgrading the woman’s social status and facilitation of her attaining the parliamentary membership. Woman circles blame the government in the first place and the political parties and civil society organizations in the second place that they have not reacted and interacted with the issue of the woman and her right to obtaining parliament membership. Despite of that some circles at the GPC ruling party say the government has compensated the woman in the membership at the Shoura Council and the cabinet as it previously did. But woman circles say he proportion of her appointment at the two councils has been symbolic and for political propaganda. The government had, during the past period, appointed a state minister for human rights, three women as assistant undersecretary, six women as advisors at various ministries, one woman advisor at the premiership, promotion of 95 women to a director general degree and appointment of one woman as ambassador and then appointing her as minister of human rights. Nonetheless women circles believe that the increased number of women registered at elections records is a beginning of forming a new political awareness and that the woman is gaining some liberation and dependence on herself instead of relying on the political parties. Dr Raufa Hassan, in charge of Planning and Cultural Development Establishment thinks that during the past 12 years all of the political parties have not established internal democratic behaviour and have overlooked women rights although their numbers in membership of those parties are large. Political analysts and circles affirm that the Yemeni woman is the victim of prevalent social and cultural traditions that still deal with the woman as mainly a housewife even if she were member of political parties and organisations. They think it is too early for the woman to get support and assistance to reach a parliamentary seat. The issue of the woman and the minimal proportion of her participation in latest parliamentary elections as candidate has taken a large space of discussion that has drawn attention to the obstacles that are still blocking her nomination to the parliament and failure of civil society organisations in overcoming them despite that the constitutional and legal legislation fully grant the Yemeni woman her political rights.
Since the united Yemen has considered development a major goal after realization of unity and democracy, woman has been given a special attention and interest because she is an essential partner in the development process and without her the country could not develop and advance. In order to be an active partner the woman should imperatively be qualified and trained and capable. And as education is the essence of qualification the education law was made compulsory and free of charge at the primary stage. Statistics demonstrate the rise in number of females joining primary education since the establishment of the unity. The figure jumped from 520640 in 1990 to 806286 in 1995 and the figure for both females and males joining primary education jumped in 2003 to around 4 million students. Regarding secondary stage education the number of female students rose from 17760 in 1990 to 56952 in 1995 and the number of students of both sexes joining both primary and secondary stages rose in 2002 to about 4.5 million. Concerning university education female student’s number was 7112 in 1990 to be 15714 in 1995 and to rise to 41164 in 2003. Yemeni woman education was not confined to mere academic education but also technical and vocational education including industrial, agricultural, trade, health and administrative education. The number of girl students of higher studies also rose. Nevertheless and although the figures explain woman’s progress in her pursuit for and keeping pace with sciences, the proportion of illiteracy among females is still higher than rates of her counterparts in the Arab world. Those concerned with this matter see that the causes can be attributed to certain factors like social habits and traditions and concepts hindering the movement of progress, including the prevention of woman from education, economic, social and living circumstances that make families to dispense with females education to benefit from them in household work and agriculture, early marriages, the wrong concept harbored by some families especially in the countryside that would benefit more from educating males while the female would get married and serve benefit to others, scarcity in number female teachers in the countryside, very little or nonexistence of schools for girls in the country side. The high percentage of illiteracy among females could not be considered the only problem but the other one is that many females quit education for economic circumstances of families, early marriages and the cultural level of families.
Importance of female education can be measured through statistical data that show women participation in teaching profession. See table below Female teachers percentage rose from 15% in 94/95 to18% in 97/98.It can be noticed that female teachers percentage in secondary schools (22%) is higher than it is in basic schools (17%).
The problem of the woman with regard to work goes back to old times but her work was usually restricted to traditional work like agriculture, raising livestock and handicraft such as spinning and weaving. The Yemeni woman did not take part in the present concept of work but during the fifties in Aden during the period of British colonization and in the north after the September 26 revolution. After the unity females’ contributions to work increased and according to the 1988 census woman workers were 65156 in 1988, 680936 in 1994 and in 2003 the figure jumped to 790678 with the increase of job opportunities for women. Despite that we can see that the proportion is still unbalanced in number. The reasons are ascribed to the low number of educated women and consequently a drop in number of job opportunities open for them in addition to traditions that still believe that woman work indicates poverty of the family and that it cannot afford spending on her besides the responsibilities of woman at home and raising children that impede her work outside the house. A high proportion of women work in the countryside and the city at home and their work is deemed among unpaid jobs. And though women in the countryside work in agriculture and handicraft but their financial return goes to the man. Among the negative remarks about woman work is that she is not allowed to assume employment statuses of the first and the second place that are considered as decision-making positions at any governmental institutions. A study by the National Committee for Woman held for discovering the woman status in eight ministries it has been ascertained that it was in rare cases to find women occupying the position of director general owing to the years spent in the job, though in practice she exercises duties of that employment degree. The worst is that it could found that some women work under responsibility of a man whose official degree is lower than hers and having less proficiency.
According to article number 6 of the Yemeni Constitution, Yemen commits to the universal human rights declaration, the two international conventions on rights and all ratified treaties and agreements. The respect of human rights and defending them is a basic rule in the Yemeni society. Both men and women have rights exercised through the constitution and applied laws discussed in details in the fourth report on the level of implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. That report discussed the articulated articles in the constitution and laws with regard to article 6. For example, just as the man has an independent financial liability the woman does too and so can exercise civil rights like signing, selling, buying and renting contracts, grants and wills and all partnership contracts with others. She also has the right to run her own property and supervise it.
There are some women in Yemen now working in commerce and are considered businesswomen. The number of businesswomen registered with the chamber of commerce is 60 women in Sana’a, 200 in Aden and 20 in Taiz. An office for businesswomen was established in 2005 in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at the Chamber of Commerce and run by women. This office in coordination with the Ministry executed a number of seminars, courses and workshops on accounting systems, management and operating businesses, and how to develop the capital, modern management and visions for businesswomen. It also targeted the obstacles facing businesswomen in Yemen and the role of commerce chambers in endorsing gender equality, in addition to holding discussions on Yemen’s joining the World Trade Organization.
In the Judiciary System, the Constitution treats women equally to men. Females have the right to seeking justice through courts and demanding their constitutional rights in case violated. She has the right to defend herself in all investigation stages and in front of all courts directly or through a representative or a lawyer. Women can stand before the law as an accuser or a defendant. The state ensures legal aid to those who cannot afford it being men or women, and so women have the right to benefit from legal rights. She has the right to testimony before the persecution and justice system. In fact, in some cases women’s testimony is prioritized to men’s when it is about personal female issues. Women get compensation for the damages inflicted on her or her money by others as the laws conditions compensation to anyone who has been harmed whether he is a man or a woman. The applied laws relating to women’s admission in the legal system do not prevent women from joining this field. There are many women who have joined the justice system and as lawyers since the early seventies of last century without suffering from any obstacles culturally or legally. And now after the unity four females have been admitted. According to the latest judiciary statistics, there are 32 women working in the general attorney and as judges compared to 1500 male judges. And for the first time in Yemen a female judge has been appointed in the Supreme Court of the Republic.
In the legal defense field, there are many female lawyers with offices run by them or in mixed offices practicing law. There are female lawyers under training. Female lawyers defend their clients before the law equally to male lawyers.
The Yemeni Constitution gave the right to accommodation to all citizens and the right to movement for men or women. The applied laws detailed the regulation of this aspect and with regards to women living with their families in the Yemeni society, a woman lives with her father being the first guardian and when married she moves to live with her husband. There are cases of women living alone or in a shared accommodation when there are away from their homes either for education or work. Also many women travel outside the country either for education, work, medical treatment or attending conferences and international events and they represent Yemen in international occasions. 15.6 It is known that the judiciary system in Yemen is the individualistic system and so the judiciary power with its three levels: primary, appeal and supreme is responsible for monitoring the implementation of this article.
Strong family ties create a congruous society. The Yemeni society, like other Islamic and Arab Societies maintain the harmony of the community. A family in the society is made up of a Husband and a wife as pillars of the family in addition to the children. The legislation’s and laws of the Republic of Yemen pay great attention to this aspect. This is clearly evident through Yemen’s ratification of international treaties and conventions. Article (16) of the Human Rights Declaration, and article (10) of the international convention on economic, social and cultural rights and articles (23 & 24) of the international convention on civil and political rights, as well as articles (1, 2 &3) of the marriage agreement and minimum age for marriage all conquer with this article of the CEDAW. The Yemeni Constitution and relevant active laws contain constitutional and legal texts that regulate family and marital relations and obligated spouses to rights and duties. The legislation steam from the Islamic jurisprudence which entitles the freedom to choose a husband and his duties towards his wife. It also states property possession, alimony, custody of children, adulthood and marriage ages, marriage registration, dowry among other issues related to marriage. These issues were detailed along with the related constitutional and legal laws in the fourth national report on implementation of the CEDAW in 1999. The form and style of the family in Yemen is based on marriage. Article (6) of the Personal Status Law No.(20) for year 1992, defines marriage as “a commitment between spouses via a legal contract through which a man enjoys his woman lawfully. It is also a mechanism for ensuring fidelity and creating a family based on compassionate treatment”. The Personal Status Law is one of the important laws on which the texts of article (16) of this convention apply to. The Personal Status Law was issued through a Republican Decree No. (20) For year 1992. It was amended through Laws Nos. (24, 27 & 34) for years (98, 99 and 2003) respectively. Despite these amendments, the Personal Status Law still contains many articles which require changing. In year 2001, WNC formed a legal team to study this law. The team concluded the need to amend some articles. This issue was forwarded to the Parliament in 2003, where the law was discussed and an agreement to amend article (47) of the family and marriage law was reached. The amended article has become as follows: “Each of the spouses has the right to annul the marriage if the other has a repelling flaw whether this flaw was present prior to the marriage or happens after the couple gets married. A flaw common to the spouses is madness, leprosy, and…, while flaws restricted to the husband are …, and tuberculosis. The right to annul the marriage is forgone if an outspoken or implied acceptance is made, except in infectious or chronic diseases which could not be treated where the choice to continue in the marriage or forsake it could be made repeatedly provided the case of flaw is proved through medical records.”
In year 2004 WNC formed another legal team to review laws concerned with women, of which was the Personal Status Law. The team recommended the need to change articles (7, 8, 11, 12,13,14,15 & 139). In addition to including three more texts. All the recommendations are detailed in the following table:
Women face significant restrictions on their role in society. The law, social custom, and Shar’ia discriminates against women. Men are permitted to take as many as four wives, although very few do so. By law the minimum age of marriage is 15. However, the law largely is not enforced, and some girls marry as early as age 12. In 1998 some conservative Members of Parliament attempted to eliminate the “minimum age” requirement on the grounds that parents should decide when their daughters are old enough to marry. Their draft law failed by a large majority. A 1998 draft law to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 also failed by a large majority. The law stipulates that the wife’s “consent” is required; “consent” is defined as “silence” for previously unwed women and “pronouncement of consent” for divorced women. The husband and the wife’s “guardian” (usually her father) sign the marriage contract; in Aden and some outlying govern orates, the wife also signs. The practice of bride price payments is widespread, despite efforts to limit the size of such payments.
The law stipulates that the wife must obey the husband. She must live with him at the place stipulated in the contract, consummate the marriage, and not leave the home without his consent. Husbands may divorce wives without justifying their action in court. Women have the legal right to divorce; however, they must provide a justification such as nonsupport, impotence, or taking a second wife without her consent. Following a divorce, the family home and older children often are awarded to the husband. The divorced woman usually returns to her father’s home, or to the home of another male relative. Her former husband must continue to support her for another 3 months, since she cannot remarry until she proves that she is not pregnant.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of this study are:-
*To explore the various views of human rights and comparing them to get an objective view of the human rights
*Explain the reason why the human rights are not guaranteed in actual life despite the signing of a number of international treaties
*Try to account for the incompatibility of universal human right and the patriarchal system prevailing in Yemen
*To locate the areas where the women are deprived of their rights in Yemen
*To suggest some ways to ensure human right in socio, economic and political system of Yemen
HYPOTHESES
1. There is a basic contradiction in the perception of the universal human rights promoters and the Yemeni society over the actual human rights and its applicability
2. The Yemeni social system based on patriarchy and Islamic Sharia is not compatible with the human rights embodied in various conventions in the UN
3. Despite signing a number of human rights conventions there is no much change in the treatment of women in Yemen and they are socially politically and economically disadvantaged
RESEARCH METHODS
This study will try to establish the argument that there could not be any improvement in human rights status until and unless there is a consensus over the human rights between the one expounded by the international community as embodied in the UN charters and the one held by the Yemeni society. For this purpose a thorough study of the conventions and agreement of the international bodies and the achievement made on the ground in Yemen would be made. The study would compare the traditional practices and the demands made by the UN and other bodies. The study would explore the various complicated structure of the patriarchal society of Yemen and the impact of Islamic ideology on the implementation of the universal human rights. This research will be based on the historical analytical approach. There will be an analysis of the developments that took place in the country over a period of roughly four decades. The proposed research will be based on available primary sources in English and largely on secondary sources. Primary sources will be the reports published by various organisations regarding the human rights by the UN and other international bodies and studies on Yemen. Secondary data will include books, articles published in edited volumes, research journals and news papers. Internet sources will also be used wherever necessary. The use of Email correspondence with scholars will also be a part of this research. For the search of these materials, libraries in New Delhi like JNU, IDSA and others will be used.
TENTATIVE CHAPTERS
The proposed study will have six chapters including the introduction and the conclusion.
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter will deal with the basic conceptual background of the study. The approaches regarding the situation of women will be discussed in brief.
Chapter 2: Human Rights Regime: the Question of Universality
This chapter will focus on the debate taking into account both the views of universality of the human rights embodied in the international bodies and the views expounded by the third world traditionalist in general and the Muslim intellectuals in particular.
Chapter 3: Human Rights Violation against Women in Yemeni Economic Social and Cultural System
This chapter will look into the various cases were women are deprived of their social rights. This included their role in family restrictions in marriage and the role of women in society.
Chapter 4: Human Rights Violation against Women in Yemeni Civil and Political System
This chapter will identify the forces which have been historically stalling the participation of Yemeni women in civil and political life.
Chapter 5: Reforms and the Issue of Implementation
This chapter will examine various laws that the government has implemented and universal conventions that the government has signed. This chapter would also look into the major reasons that have prevented the government implementing the same.
Chapter 6: Conclusion
This chapter will test the hypotheses and highlight the main findings of the study.
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