YEMEN: Children's Rights in the UN Special Procedures' Reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.

Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.

عر بية

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Visits requested

  • (R in 2005, 2007) SR torture
  • (R in 2006) SR on freedom of religion

Visits agreed upon in principle or under consideration

  • (A) SR on summary executions
  • (Agreed in January 2009) SR on the right to food, tentatively for the second semester of 2009

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Independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, Ms A.M. Lizin

(E/CN.4/2004/43/Add.1)

Country visit: 2-5 October 2003
Report published: 8 January 2004

Cost of identity documents: If a woman gives birth in hospital, which is rare, she is given a paper that enables her to go and register the child and obtain a birth certificate, which is obligatory for school enrolment. This is provided so that the person registering the child possesses an identity card and a family record book. The sum of 500 rials (about US$ 2.70) is charged for all these documents - a large amount for poor families, and one which explains why they are in no hurry to go and register births. The independent expert expressed concern that children deprived of an education - girls for the most part - bear the consequences of the decision to charge a high price for these documents. There is also a need to convince men, who often deny their wives identity cards, that they are entitled to one. (para 39) The prohibitive effect of the high cost of identity documents is compounded by the cost of transport to district capitals in the case of country dwellers. (para 41)

The independent expert expresses the view that reducing the cost of civil registration documents could provide a great stimulus for progress, in order to stimulate compulsory education, for example, but lowering the price must be practicable, and for that purpose additional financial resources must be provided. (para 41) The independent expert recommends that the United Nations agencies in the field and the other lenders should provide financial support for the civil registration programme so that it can be accessible at lower cost and can be made obligatory for men, women and children. (para 45)

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Independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, Ms A.M. Lizin

(E/CN.4/1999/48)

Country visit: 11-14 November 1998
Report published: 29 January 1999

Successful programmes:

Yemen features in a general report on human rights and extreme poverty as a case study. The Special Rapporteur highlights measures implemented that have been successful at combating poverty.

The Special Rapporteur notes that the National Report on Human Development for 1998 showed that social services expenditure has gone down, particularly in the health and education sectors, and that increased poverty is affecting 51 per cent of the population. Between 1991 and 1996, wages also dropped by 70 per cent. The World Bank is blamed for not having protected the education and health budgets. On the other hand, Yemen took positive action through the Social Development Fund, supporting microfinance, community programmes and the strengthening of civil institutions. (paragraph 104)

The Government has established a National Human Rights Commission under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose priorities are information on the rights of the child (radio and television campaign); information on education for girls (the same type of campaign); the separation of adolescents and adults in prisons; and the situation of women prisoners. (para 106)

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Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances

(E/CN.4/1999/62/Add.1)

Country visit: 17-21 August 1998
Report published: 22 December 1998

Compensation for families: Two families with many children informed the delegation that the compensation they were receiving, which was based on the salary of the missing person at the time of his disappearance, did not take into account either the actual needs of the families or the rise in the cost of living since 1986. They also pointed out that there was a discrepancy between the current salaries of civil servants and the monthly allowance of the families of the martyrs. (para 28)

Countries

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