Statement of Protest to the UN Women organized conference “Yemeni Women Peace mediators”

Ms. Dina Zorba,
The Head of UN Women Office for Yemen
Mr. Martin Griffiths,
UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen

Your Excellency,
We followed as a team (Southern Women for an Independent South State) the “Yemeni Women’s Conference: Peace Mediators ” 27-29 march 2019, we thank the efforts of UN Women and the Secretary-General’s envoy and his department, for their continued efforts to support the empowerment of women participation which is approved by the Charter of UN, and to emphasize the importance of their active presence in the comprehensive structures of the Yemeni landscape, as well as supporting them as a mediator of peace between the opposing parties of the war in Yemen since 2015, that we have seen before in the talks of “Stockholm ” and we are witnessing it at the Conference of the Mediators of Peace ‘Jordon’.

While appreciating those efforts, we are surprised and wondering about the repetition of marginalization and exclusion of southern women with the demand for “independence of the South”, i.e. the requirement to restore their country and its southern national identity with pre-1990 borders. In order to achieve a sustainable peace formula, they must be involved in the activities of international organizations of the United Nations, in particular the UN Women. We wonder how can peace be sustainable while women with the goal of exercising the right of peoples to self-determination are excluded in this conference, in which the number of participants exceeded 100 women.

Accordingly, we include the following comments which we hope they should be taken into consideration:

First, the conference ignored the representation of Southern women calling for the independence of the South. As the conference seemed not committed to respecting the binding norms of the Charter of UN and the right of self-determination of peoples which is at the forefront of the binding norms of the Charter of UN. On the other side, based on the declared context of the United Nations to deal with the Yemeni crisis out of its commitment to implement the resolutions of the United Nations and the National Dialogue outputs and others as references to your interactions in resolving them – however, the concept based on the existence of the unification is no longer realistic, and has not a southern acceptance – you have violated one of the most important texts in the “National Dialogue outputs”, which is a representation of the South and the North, which has always been confirmed in the speeches of the United Nations and its envoys.

As we have seen a repetition of non-compliance to the achievement of parity mentioned in the representation at the level of participation in the international events and activities, we are now wondering about the guarantee in the context of confidence-building for peace.

The repetition of the marginalization and exclusion of southerners calling for independence from participation in the events of the UN and the Conference of Peace mediators is crystal clear and an example of that is the current exclusion of southern women in UN Women conference.

Secondly, the repeated absence of the Southern women calling for independence of the South from the events of the UN and not engaging them compared to their northern sisters can be considered as a shortcoming to meet the objectives of the activity and achieve the just goals of peace in Yemen you seek to achieve.

The exclusion of representatives of the largest and broadest political current in the South renders the image of the landscape premature, and does not convey the reality as it is, and leads to fallacies and concealment of facts that do not serve the outcome of the UN Commission’s efforts.
We recognize the keenness of the UN Commission to achieve equity, equality and non-discrimination, which has long been devoted against the Southerner women and men by the circles of influence in the Yemeni regime, accompanied by waging relentless wars of extermination, and once again they do not even find fair representation before the United Nations Body which is responsible for the relief of oppressed people.
Furthermore, we have the right to question the reasons for this discriminatory practice, the marginalization and exclusion that has been repeated and we have the right to characterize it and to raise our objection to your esteemed body.

Sincerely,
(South Women for an Independent South State Team)

Signatories:

1.Huda Alattas
2. Suhair Ali Ahmed
3. Entisar Alhadali
4. Nadirah Abdulqadoos Abdulkhaliq
5. Fatimah Albaiti
6. Aisha Talib Abadel
7. Eshtiyaq Mohammed Saad Abdulallah
8. Yusra Salim Salih
9. Entisar Omer Kahlid
10. Amira Oqisteen
11. Ruqayah Ahmed Albaiti
12. Niran Suqi
13. Dr. Muna Awadh Bashraheel
14. Afra Qassim
15. Dr. Sana Mubarak
16. Dr. Jaklin Mansoor Albatani
17. Sofia Khalid Baras
18. Manal Muhaim
19. Siham Alradfani
20. Noor Fadhel Abdullah
21. Arwa Ahmed Almaqtri
22. Rabaa Mohammed Abdullah
23. Ebtihal Fadhal Gabel
24. Hana Mohsen Nasser
25. Sabah Mohammed Abdullah
26. Ramya Faisal Afendi
27. Tumna Saleh Abdurab
28. Andera Rashad Abdullah
29. Dhekra Mahboob Mubarak
30. Mawahib Mansoor Ali
31. Jihan Adel Hameed
32. Radha Mohsen Ali
33. Fatemah Fadhel Hidrah
34. Hantama Mohammed Abdullah
35. Shireen Abdullah Mubarak
36. Salomah Qaid Saleh
37. Wasilah Mohammed Hussein
38. Ruba Fadhel Gabel
39. Aatiqah Awadh Abdullah
40. Huda Harbi Jawhar
41. Dr. Amena Alshahabi
42. Hanan Abd Saeed
43. Amel Alabd
44. Dhekra Aljabeeli
45. Suha Saleh Saeed
46. Kareema Dawfas
47. Noor Awadh
48. Saluha Thabet Maarar
49. Hasona Salim Ali
50. Afana Mohammed Ali
51. Muna Ali Manibas
52. Naseemah Mohammed Ali
53. Samihah Omer Shamila
54. Rita Rashad Hamoodah
55. Nada Mansoor Hasel
56. Ifraq Abdullah
57. Rawyah Abubakr
58. Rahmah Alradfani
59. Naseem Aldini
60. Sawsan Alshadli
61. Jamila Alyafai
62. Hend Omairan
63. Nada Aobali
64. Inhar Saeed Saweed
65. Thurya Alnassri
66. Abeer Abdulkareem
67. Entisar Abdurahim
68. Raeda Alrawishan
69. Rahma Aidaroos
70. Rasha Mohammed Ahmed
71. Jalilah Ali Radha
72. Atiyat Abood
73. Aswan Mohammed Hussein
74. Hifa Yassin Hussein
75. Nasreen Ali Mohammed Samar
76. Olfat Abdo Saeed
77. Nadirah Abdullah Hanbalah
78. Nahid Muzhir Abdullah
79. Sahar Shukri Babad
80. Ehthab Abubakr Abdullah Maddi
81. Eman Tahir Khalid
82. Mayadah Abdo Ali Manaa
83. Yassmin Ahmed Musaed
84. Malak Hitham Nasser
85. Edrak Abdullah Mustafa
86. Ayat Hafed Mustafa
87. Ayat Abdullah Mustafa
88. Samar Mohammed Obaid
89. Sally Sali Ali
90. Sabreen Ali Allhasani
91. Soad Mohammed Saweed
92. Hanan Omer Thabet
93. Arwa Abdullah Harhara
94. Rihab Jawad Mohammed
95. Samar Ahmed
96.Najwa Fadhel Algahafi