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YEMEN PRESENTS REPORT TO COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION
25 January 1999
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MORNING
Yemen this morning presented its second periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on how that country implemented the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Waheeba Ghalib Farée Al-Fakih, head of the Yemeni delegation and a Professor at Sanaa University in Yemen, presented the report, underlining that Yemen was a democratic country which was endeavouring to deeply implant the values of democracy through legislative and administrative reforms.
In the course of their consideration of the report, a number of Committee members said that the report was not prepared in accordance with the Committee's guidelines and that progress made since the submission of the initial report was not indicated. They also said that follow-up measures to the Committee's recommendations to the initial report did not figure in the present report.
The Yemeni delegation also included Ali Saleh Abdullah, Secretary-General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Security; Mohamed Said Attar, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Faisal Dubithain, First Secretary; Abdelmattan Assanbani, Director-General of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Security; and Abdullah Ali Fadl, Chief, Legal Department, Directorate of Legal Affairs and Treaties, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention, Yemen must submit to the Committee summaries of its various measures to implement the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its consideration of the second period report of Yemen.
The second periodic report of Yemen (document CRC/C/70/Add.1) reviews the status of the Convention within domestic legislation and lists the numerous measures undertaken by the Government to implement it. The report says that Yemeni laws and legislation, including the Press and Publications Act, recognize the rights of citizens, including children, to participate in political, economic, social and cultural life and protect their freedom of thought and their freedom to express their opinion. The principal method of expression of the views of the child is deemed to be through drawing and school activities, the report says.
The report further states that it is difficult to compile adequate and realistic data and statistics concerning the employment of children and to determine the occupation in which they are working in view of the absence of a database, not only on the employment of children but also on the labour force in general. It adds that hopes are currently being pinned on a project for the establishment of a labour force database to be compiled by Yemen in collaboration with the International Labour Office.
The report states that a social welfare fund was set up in 1996 to effectively help to alleviate poverty and relieve the hardship caused by economic measures, and to develop the Social Assistance Act and increase the number of beneficiaries from the services provided under the terms of the Act. The Government is also currently making increasing endeavours to provide services for juvenile offenders, vagrants, delinquents and potential delinquents alike and to find appropriate ways to reform and protect them from delinquency through placement in rehabilitation and welfare institutions for juveniles. However, the social rehabilitation and welfare centres and institutions for juveniles are facing difficulties and obstacles relating to the general strategies for their activities. The policies and programmes for the management and operation of these institutions are inadequate, according to the report.
Introduction of Yemeni Report
WAHEEBA GHALIB FAREE AL-FAKIH, Professor at the University of Sanaa, Yemen, introducing her country's second periodic report, said that significant steps had been taken in Yemen since the submission of the country's initial report. The measures had focused on developing collective responsibilities of the society towards the promotion and protection of children's rights.
Yemen was a democratic society endeavouring to deeply implant the values of democracy through various reforms both in the fields of legislation and administration, Mrs. Al-Fakih went on to state. In the 1960s and 1970s, Yemen had been a closed society and it was not familiar with, nor had been affected by world events until recent years.
Mrs. Al-Fakih emphasized that at present, the Government of Yemen was committed to promote changes and to seek ways in raising the living standards of the people. To that end, new legislation and regulations had been introduced to improve the social, economic and political structure of the society. Measures were also taken in conformity with the country's international obligations. Yemen was one of the few countries where women were members of the national parliament, she said.
Discussion
A number of Committee members raised a series of questions during their consideration of the Yemeni report. One expert said that gender discrimination still persisted and gave as evidence the fact that 80 per cent of women were illiterate while the rate of illiteracy among men was 35 per cent. Likewise, among the 55 per cent of the population in the age group 6-15 years who were enrolled for basic education, 71 per cent were males while the rest were females. What were the reasons for such disparities, asked the expert.
Several experts regretted that the report was not prepared in conformity with the guidelines of the Committee and suggested that the Government seek technical assistance for its preparation. They also said that the status of the Convention within domestic legislation was unclear. Committee experts further said that insufficient measures had been taken to implement the recommendations of the Committee since the consideration of the country's initial report.
The experts said that following the consideration of the initial report of Yemen, the Committee recommended, among other things, that the Government establish a permanent and multidisciplinary mechanism for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the Convention; that it improve the system of collecting statistical and other data; and that special protection measures be adopted and implemented in relation to refugee children and children involved with the juvenile justice system.
In response to the numerous queries raised by Committee experts, the members of the Yemeni delegation said that one could not judge the progress a country had made through a report which was submitted two years before. Since the initial report had been examined by the Committee, a number of measures had been taken and major changes had been achieved, added the delegation.
Concerning the comment that there was discrimination among geographical regions, the delegation said that it was at times difficult to ensure that teachers reached remote and mountainous regions, and to assemble students in classrooms. With regard to corporal punishment, Yemen had been attempting to prevent its practice in the school system and at home. The practice of corporal punishment in general was prohibited in schools.
The delegation recalled that at least 40 national organizations were working in the area of mother and child in Yemen. A series of symposiums had been carried out in Sanaa with the collaboration of international organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). During the last three years, the Convention had been disseminated. Programmes aimed at implementing the provisions of the Convention had also been carried out with the participation of children themselves. Conferences and seminars had also been organized, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, for university students and other categories of the population.
Concerning refugee children, the delegation that they were treated humanly and were provided with essential necessities, including education in their camps. In no way was the Government treating refugee children cruelly, stressed the delegation.
With regard to capital punishment, the delegation said that although the legal provision for the death penalty was still in vigour, it was not something that children under 18 years were subjected to.
Yemen this morning presented its second periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on how that country implemented the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Waheeba Ghalib Farée Al-Fakih, head of the Yemeni delegation and a Professor at Sanaa University in Yemen, presented the report, underlining that Yemen was a democratic country which was endeavouring to deeply implant the values of democracy through legislative and administrative reforms.
In the course of their consideration of the report, a number of Committee members said that the report was not prepared in accordance with the Committee's guidelines and that progress made since the submission of the initial report was not indicated. They also said that follow-up measures to the Committee's recommendations to the initial report did not figure in the present report.
The Yemeni delegation also included Ali Saleh Abdullah, Secretary-General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Security; Mohamed Said Attar, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Faisal Dubithain, First Secretary; Abdelmattan Assanbani, Director-General of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Security; and Abdullah Ali Fadl, Chief, Legal Department, Directorate of Legal Affairs and Treaties, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention, Yemen must submit to the Committee summaries of its various measures to implement the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its consideration of the second period report of Yemen.
The second periodic report of Yemen (document CRC/C/70/Add.1) reviews the status of the Convention within domestic legislation and lists the numerous measures undertaken by the Government to implement it. The report says that Yemeni laws and legislation, including the Press and Publications Act, recognize the rights of citizens, including children, to participate in political, economic, social and cultural life and protect their freedom of thought and their freedom to express their opinion. The principal method of expression of the views of the child is deemed to be through drawing and school activities, the report says.
The report further states that it is difficult to compile adequate and realistic data and statistics concerning the employment of children and to determine the occupation in which they are working in view of the absence of a database, not only on the employment of children but also on the labour force in general. It adds that hopes are currently being pinned on a project for the establishment of a labour force database to be compiled by Yemen in collaboration with the International Labour Office.
The report states that a social welfare fund was set up in 1996 to effectively help to alleviate poverty and relieve the hardship caused by economic measures, and to develop the Social Assistance Act and increase the number of beneficiaries from the services provided under the terms of the Act. The Government is also currently making increasing endeavours to provide services for juvenile offenders, vagrants, delinquents and potential delinquents alike and to find appropriate ways to reform and protect them from delinquency through placement in rehabilitation and welfare institutions for juveniles. However, the social rehabilitation and welfare centres and institutions for juveniles are facing difficulties and obstacles relating to the general strategies for their activities. The policies and programmes for the management and operation of these institutions are inadequate, according to the report.
Introduction of Yemeni Report
WAHEEBA GHALIB FAREE AL-FAKIH, Professor at the University of Sanaa, Yemen, introducing her country's second periodic report, said that significant steps had been taken in Yemen since the submission of the country's initial report. The measures had focused on developing collective responsibilities of the society towards the promotion and protection of children's rights.
Yemen was a democratic society endeavouring to deeply implant the values of democracy through various reforms both in the fields of legislation and administration, Mrs. Al-Fakih went on to state. In the 1960s and 1970s, Yemen had been a closed society and it was not familiar with, nor had been affected by world events until recent years.
Mrs. Al-Fakih emphasized that at present, the Government of Yemen was committed to promote changes and to seek ways in raising the living standards of the people. To that end, new legislation and regulations had been introduced to improve the social, economic and political structure of the society. Measures were also taken in conformity with the country's international obligations. Yemen was one of the few countries where women were members of the national parliament, she said.
Discussion
A number of Committee members raised a series of questions during their consideration of the Yemeni report. One expert said that gender discrimination still persisted and gave as evidence the fact that 80 per cent of women were illiterate while the rate of illiteracy among men was 35 per cent. Likewise, among the 55 per cent of the population in the age group 6-15 years who were enrolled for basic education, 71 per cent were males while the rest were females. What were the reasons for such disparities, asked the expert.
Several experts regretted that the report was not prepared in conformity with the guidelines of the Committee and suggested that the Government seek technical assistance for its preparation. They also said that the status of the Convention within domestic legislation was unclear. Committee experts further said that insufficient measures had been taken to implement the recommendations of the Committee since the consideration of the country's initial report.
The experts said that following the consideration of the initial report of Yemen, the Committee recommended, among other things, that the Government establish a permanent and multidisciplinary mechanism for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the Convention; that it improve the system of collecting statistical and other data; and that special protection measures be adopted and implemented in relation to refugee children and children involved with the juvenile justice system.
In response to the numerous queries raised by Committee experts, the members of the Yemeni delegation said that one could not judge the progress a country had made through a report which was submitted two years before. Since the initial report had been examined by the Committee, a number of measures had been taken and major changes had been achieved, added the delegation.
Concerning the comment that there was discrimination among geographical regions, the delegation said that it was at times difficult to ensure that teachers reached remote and mountainous regions, and to assemble students in classrooms. With regard to corporal punishment, Yemen had been attempting to prevent its practice in the school system and at home. The practice of corporal punishment in general was prohibited in schools.
The delegation recalled that at least 40 national organizations were working in the area of mother and child in Yemen. A series of symposiums had been carried out in Sanaa with the collaboration of international organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). During the last three years, the Convention had been disseminated. Programmes aimed at implementing the provisions of the Convention had also been carried out with the participation of children themselves. Conferences and seminars had also been organized, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, for university students and other categories of the population.
Concerning refugee children, the delegation that they were treated humanly and were provided with essential necessities, including education in their camps. In no way was the Government treating refugee children cruelly, stressed the delegation.
With regard to capital punishment, the delegation said that although the legal provision for the death penalty was still in vigour, it was not something that children under 18 years were subjected to.