In July 2008, the CEDAW Committee examined the measures taken by Yemen to protect women’s rights. SAF, as a member of a coalition of NGOs submitted a report to the Committee’s experts, drawing attention to Yemen’s failure to reform discriminatory laws, in particular the Personal Status Law, the Citizenship Law, the Penal Code and the Nationality Law, and the absence of laws to protect women from violence in the public and private spheres. The recommendations issued by the CEDAW Committee largely reflect the concerns addressed in the SAF report.
The Committee expressed deep concern that Yemen has failed to adopt legislation on violence against women and girls, including domestic and sexual violence, and that women face serious obstacles in filing complaints and seeking reparation. The Committee urged Yemen to enact legislation to ensure that all violence against women constitutes a criminal offence, that victims are protected and that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished.
Early marriages and temporary marriages are also of particular concern. A law enacted in 1999 legalised the marriage of girls under 15, with the consent of their guardian, affecting girls as young as 8. Temporary marriages (usually of young Yemeni girls to rich foreign men from neighbouring countries) are identified as a form of « sex-tourism ». The Committee called on Yemen to take urgent measures to raise the minimum age for marriage and to adopt all necessary measures to put an end to temporary marriages. Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains legal, despite the adoption in 2001 of a Decree prohibiting the practice in health facilities. FGM is prevalent especially in coastal and rural areas and the Committee expressed its grave concern at the Yemeni government’s reluctance to eradicate it. The Committee called on Yemen to adopt legislation criminalising this harmful practice.
The Committee urged Yemen to reform discriminatory provisions of the Penal Code, in particular articles 273 and 275 criminalising acts violating “public decency”, under which women are systematically prosecuted, and article 232 providing that a man or any other male relative who kills his wife or a female members of the family suspected of adultery, is not prosecuted with murder. The Committee also highlighted the expressly discriminatory provisions in the Personal Status Law and Citizenship Law that result in discrimination in marriage, divorce, testimony, property, nationality, child custody and inheritance and called for their urgent reform.
The Committee called for Yemen to take effective steps to increase women’s participation in political life. As detailed in the SAF report, although the rate of women voters on record has increased, the rate of women nominated for a political office has recently decreased to as low as 0.6% of the total number of candidates.
« Violence against women is a cause and consequence of discrimination against women and this remains particularly true in Yemen. We welcome the recommendations of the Committee but they must not remain only on paper. The Yemeni government must face its responsibilities under international law to combat violations of women’s rights by taking concrete action through legal and political reform », said Amal Basha, President of the Sister Arab Forum. « This year, as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Yemen must recognise that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights ».
Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights, Alternative report on women’s rights in Yemen, submitted to the UN CEDAW Committee, July 2008
CEDAW Committee’s recommendations to Yemen, August 2008