Yamanat
With the participation of 30 participants, participants, and representatives of relevant local and international civil society organizations, government institutions, political parties, journalists, and academic institutions, an expanded discussion session was held Thursday on the Zoom digital platform on the six grave violations of children in Yemen and local and international accountability and protection mechanisms.
During the seminar organized by Watch4HR and the Yemeni Coalition for Monitoring Human Rights Violations (YCMHRV), with cooperation and support from the DT Institute, within the activities of the SAFE project, which aims to unify efforts to protect Yemeni children from grave violations. of human rights during armed conflict by promoting their recognition locally and internationally and facilitating accountability of perpetrators.
The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Marta Mendez, International Advisor on Human Rights and Transitional Justice.
The episode reviewed a number of issues about the reality of children’s rights in Yemen, the most important violations to which many victims were exposed as a result of the absence of law enforcement due to the war in Yemen, and examples of cases of violations that affected children during the conflict and were committed without accountability or punishment, in addition to discussing means of documenting violations. Human rights, advocacy mechanisms, special interventions required to reduce violations and ensure that their perpetrators are held accountable according to the law, and means of raising awareness during the conflict and post-conflict that will contribute to combating impunity and achieving justice for child victims and their families.
Five experts were identified to develop presentations, share facts, provide opinions and answer participants’ questions.
The beginning of the discussion session was with Mr. Yasser Al-Maliki, a lawyer and human rights defender, who spoke about the six grave violations of children’s rights during the conflict in Yemen and presented statistics of the violations to which children were exposed, according to data published by international and local organizations.
A working paper presented by Judge Shaif Al-Shaibani, Head of the Training and Rehabilitation Department of the Attorney General’s Office, also reviewed the Yemeni laws and legislation that focused on children’s rights, local accountability mechanisms for protecting children in Yemen, and the remedies that must be followed by the families of the victims.
There was also the presence and participation of Ms. Niko Jaafrania, Yemen and Bahrain researcher for Human Rights Watch, who reviewed international accountability mechanisms for protecting children and the role of civil society in promoting accountability for violations committed against children.
Mr. Dan Wilkowski, a researcher from the DT Institute, also presented a review of a case study of child abuse in Yemen.
Dr. Angela Sultan, executive founder of the Center for Strategic Studies to Support Women and Children, spoke about the reality of rehabilitating children who are victims of conflict and the challenges and difficulties facing their reintegration into society. The discussion session also witnessed discussing the opinions and interventions of a number of participants and opening a dialogue with the main speakers.
At the conclusion of the discussion field, the participants stressed the importance of unifying efforts to continue the process of documenting gross violations of human rights, including the rights of children, as well as coming up with a number of recommendations that will be directed to the parties to the conflict, the United Nations system, and the international community, the most prominent of which is meeting the needs of children affected by armed conflict in peace operations, including: This includes including the protection of children and violations among the main axes in the peace negotiations led by the United Nations, and giving urgent priority to justice in Yemen, while emphasizing the importance of forming an independent international investigation mechanism to investigate cases of human rights violations in general and the issues of children in Yemen.