The Yemeni Coalition for Monitoring Human Rights Violations (Rasd Coalition) organized today, Thursday, August 31, 2023, in Al-Turbah city, south of Taiz Governorate, the awareness-raising seminar on introducing the six grave violations of children in Yemen, as part of the project to enhance awareness and ensure the rights of children during the conflict in Yemen (SAFE).

Muhammad Abdel-Ghani opened the seminar, on behalf of the Rasd Coalition, with a speech in which he reviewed the project’s activities and the goal of the awareness-raising seminar. He pointed to the suffering and violations that have plagued children in Yemen since the beginning of the war, calling on the parties to the conflict to stop committing violations against children, pointing out to the importance of monitoring and documenting violations to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.

The representative of the local council in the city of Al-Turbah, Sabri Al-Zuriqi, referred to the general situation of children’s rights and focused on several stages in which children are exposed to the six violations. Al-Zuriqi stressed the need to intensify awareness-raising activities at the family, community, and state agency levels regarding children’s rights and protecting them from the six grave violations.

Deputy Director of the Human Rights Office in Taiz, Ahmed Taha Al-Ma’bqi, explained that there are 25 articles in international humanitarian law concerned with protecting the rights of children in light of armed conflict, which specify six grave crimes committed against children.

The researchers participated with working papers during the symposium, where Nabil Abdel Hafeez presented a paper defining the Six Grave Violations of Children in Yemen. And firms of violations in Yemen, responsibility of involved parties for these violations and challenges in documenting violations against children.

He pointed to the violations against children during 2015-2022, as documented by international organizations’ reports, confirming that actual violations exceeds the documented ones. He called human rights organizations to develop their mechanisms to cope with the mounting human rights violations in Yemen. He confirmed the importance of documenting human rights violations to ensure accountability of perpetrators.

Hiam Al-Turki delivered a presentation on the local and international legal and political frameworks related to the rehabilitation and integration of children into society, in which she touched on the necessity of reintegrating children and intensifying efforts to end the current cycle of violence.

Researcher Weam Al-Maqtari also presented an introductory summary of the local and international mechanisms for child protection and legislation that ensures accountability for violations of children’s rights, noting that there are four official local mechanisms: the judiciary, parliament, the Ministry of Human Rights, and finally the state-owned media. She added that there are informal mechanisms represented by human rights activists, civil society organizations, initiatives and coalitions, in addition to the National Committee to Investigate Human Rights Violations.

The seminar concluded into several recommendations, including raising awareness of human rights for official agencies in the army and police sectors to limit and prevent violations against children and for violating parties such as the Houthi group. Among the recommendations also is the necessity of spreading the culture of reporting violations and abandoning fear, shame, and hesitation in reporting the grave violations that occur against children.