Compiled by Wissam Tarif

INSAN 2010

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The Practice Right now, and as you read, women, men and children are being sold. They are being passed on in inheritance to another persons ownership. They are being raped, tortured and made to work in their Masters fields. This, for example, is the case in the Al Zohrah district of Al Hudaydah Governorate (indicated in red in the map of Yemen below), west of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, as well as in the Kuaidinah and Khairan Al-Muharraq districts of the Hajjah Governorate, to the north. Kanaf, who is now 26, is a slave. He has two brothers and a sister, all of them children of their mother Saiar. She, too, is a Jaria, or slave. This automatically confers the only inheritance title they can claim: their mother is a Slave so all of her children are, too. Whats more, as a female, Kanafs mother has been set aside not only for the purpose of producing more slaves through reproduction, but also for providing sexual pleasure for her Master and anyone else he may make her available to. The Jawari (female slaves) have no option, they can never refuse: refusal or resistance simply means punishment. Slave owners welcome pregnancy, implying no responsibilities on their part regarding slave children, who never inherit their fathers surname. For Masters, each child born is an extra source of wealth, and women are farm investments. Their owner, Mohammed Sagier Jourbran, or Master as Kanaf calls him, died some time back, leaving several sons and a daughter. At the time, Kanaf was six years old. The Masters official children inherited not only their fathers lands, cows and poultry, but all other chattel as well which ofcourse, included Kanaf, his mother, his two brothers and sister. The Masters formally recognized children simply drew lots to decide which slave belonged to whom, thereby tragically (and in a once and for all fell transaction) separating Kanaf from his family, the only thing he could be said to have. Kanaf (pictured left), his brothers and sister, it must be said, nonetheless, did receive a proper education. The learning of slaves to always conduct yourself in obedience, to use the correct terminology identifying their owner as Supreme and themselves as submissive. Human property are reared to obey, addressing their owners as Master, all part of an educational system provided, free of charge, from earliest childhood. Slave training even includes carrying out orders that cause physical harm to the slaves themselves in order to please Master. There are no specific work hours for a slave, no clocking in or clocking out. The job is 24/7 - they must be ready to serve at all times. The recompense is to be denied schooling, ownership of property, any kind of official identification, and even access to social security. As far as the State is concerned, these people just do not exist. But we have met people who have told us of their slavery.

Mohamed Ali Mothana, INSANs researcher in Yemen, interviewed Sharqa (pictured below left), a woman he guessed to be 45 years old - human property in Yemen, it seems, do not usually know their age, as it is said they are taken from their mothers very soon after birth. The meeting took place north of Sanaa, the capital, in a place called Kuaidinah. The interview had to be conducted in strict secrecy, as Sharqa feared consequences if her owner should discover that she was talking to us. Nonetheless, her story is fairly typical. She was born a slave. She never knew her family her former Master in Al Zohrah sold her to her present one when she was still little. She, herself, has given birth to three sons - each from different fathers with whom she was obliged by her Owner to mate. Two of her sons serve this same Master. The third one was traded, some time back, in return for some goats. She has not seen her son since then, as he lives in a different district. This, at least, is what her Owner has told her. Shaqra works as a house maid. Yet no job agency would consent to such a wide job description: her duties entail watching over goats, farming the land, and, at the proper time, harvesting crops under a 46 degree Celsius sun. Like all slaves in Yemen, she owns nothing, she has no possessions whatsoever. Neither does she earn money in return for her work. Above all, she has no rights over her own body or personal desires. She has never known what it is like to have choice. She cannot claim identity except by reference to being a Masters property. Background Slavery in Yemen can be traced back at least two centuries. It took root in areas that were afterwards known as sheikdoms under the Protectorate of Aden. But that does not necessarily mean slavery did not exist in the area we now know as Aden before that period. In theory, Sheikhs and wealthy Yemeni citizens were legally allowed to possess slaves until as late as 1976. However, it wasnt until 1994 that an amendment to article 248 of the penal code, criminalizing slavery, was put into effect. The result was that human trafficking became an offence and those involved in either trading in human lives or possessing slaves could be sentenced to up to ten years in jail. At the time of the Penal Code amendment, few people would actually acknowledge the existence of slavery in Yemen. So deeply entrenched was the practice in the area, however, that it is said many wealthy Sheikhs, influential people and tribal leaders deliberately chose to ignore the new legal requirements. Especially in the far flung districts away from the capital, Sanaa.

It is a scandal that, in order to curry political favor and support from politically influential sectors of Yemeni society, the government may have decided to look the other way and not enforce the freedom of the slave population. In effect, the Yemeni government may have consciously consented to the inhuman and brutal practice of slavery in its own country. Such knowing and severe violations of international law, blatantly denying basic and fundamental human rights to more than 3000 voiceless and identity-less, non-existent Yemeni citizens would be a scandalous breach of the highest order. The Law Yemen has already ratified the 1956 United Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. In addition, Article 24 of the Yemeni Constitution guarantees equal rights to all citizens, and under Article 29 of the very same document, forced labor is strictly prohibited. Article 248 of the Yemen Penal Code criminalizes and sentences any person who owns, gifts, or trades in slaves to a maximum of 10 years in prison. Nevertheless the Yemeni government has failed either to respect its own Constitution, act upon its very own law or to comply with international law on this matter. Unfortunately, there may be strong indications that the Yemeni government may indeed have consented to slavery, and that it may have been complicit with such crime. Furthermore the government have violated Yemeni citizens constitutional rights to citizenship, family, marriage and the right to possess property, whilst discriminating against them by denying services granted to other citizens and, above all, by failing to protect them against slavery. Absurdly, Yemeni citizens who were formerly slaves before being released by their ex Masters in many cases still do not have any kind of identification card nor are they included in the social security system. The problem of lack of official identification still continues, with stories of former slaves being granted cards to be able to vote in local elections but, paradoxically, failing to obtain proper national identification. Yemeni Islamic Institutions Islamic Institutions in Yemen encourage the abolition of slavery. Indeed, throughout his lifetime, the Prophet Mohamed himself emphasized the importance of freeing slaves. It is all the more regrettable, then, that the representatives of the Islamic Institutions in Yemen (the Imams), present in each and every city and town in Yemen, have not raised a finger in denouncing or eliminating the practice of slavery in either the Al Zohrah district of Al Hudaydah Governorate, or in the Hajjah Governorate districts of Kuaidinah and Khairan Al-Muharraq, where the problem is particularly acute. The Imams have allowed these violations to continue under their very noses.

The religious authorities of the land should demand answers and explanations from their representatives on the ground in these districts. Why, they should ask, did you fail to act? Why did you not bring this scandal to the attention of the authorities? Why, indeed, they must ask them, did you fail to preach against slavery in your Friday sermons? And why did you not shame and pressure the owners of human property among you to give up this practice? Spillover to Saudi Arabia Fleeing from the long-established practice of slavery in Yemen, thousands have escaped into neighboring Saudi Arabia. They fled without identification, as they had never received any, and so they can only hope to be tolerated as illegal in their new home. These illegals have mostly gone to the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Jeddah or Dammam. Hundreds of them have ended up homeless, begging in the streets, or, if they are lucky, as paid laborers. Others have married and had children. They mostly live in poverty; their children denied access to Saudi Schools. The youngsters learn to beg and clean car windows at a very early age. The Saudi government denies them any form of identification, social insurance, work permits and residence cards. They are denied health care while, ironically, their marriages are recognized in a confusing situation where the religious authorities, in order to prevent adultery by preferring to enforce marriage, award them official married status religiously, while the Saudi State denies them this recognition because of their own criteria. This dilemma is more apparent and contradictory given the fact that Saudi Arabias Constitution is deemed to be the Quran, so the internal contradiction between the State and the Islamic authorities of the country is truly perplexing in a country where hundreds of Yemeni sons and daughters of former slaves have been born on Saudi soil. And where they are not only denied residence permits but also access to schools and to health services severe infringements and violations of internationally binding childrens rights. INSANs recommendations The Yemeni government, represented by the Attorney General, must immediately take legal action against Slave owners in the country. It is of the utmost importance that the Yemeni government grants those of its citizens who have, till now, been subjected to slavery, their right to citizenship. They must, with immediate effect, be incorporated into the countrys social security system.

The Yemeni government must move urgently and without further delay to provide those citizens who have been subjected to slavery with immediate remedies, relief and compensation. The Yemeni government must understand the social impact on those who, for generations, have only known life in terms of submission and slavery. In the measure that such people learn to deal with a new set of realities, the government must urgently provide housing, medical attention, and a fund to provide the support these Yemeni citizens will require as they transition into a new life and status. The government must open a public investigation to apportion and determine responsibilities for the devastating failure of the system. Islamic authorities in the country should immediately establish an internal investigation in order to question the Imams of the towns and cities involved in slavery concerning their silence and inaction. Furthermore, the Islamic authorities in Yemen should officially issue a Fatwa forbidding the practice of slavery. They should take the opportunity to explain the concept of property under Sharia Law, and clarify the issue of liquidating a debt by offering a human life in settlement. As far as the Saudi government is concerned, it must acknowledge the rights of previously enslaved Yemenis and their families who now live in Saudi Arabia. They should now take steps toward legalizing their status and granting them access to housing, health care and schooling. The international community should react immediately by demanding from the government of Yemen compliance with its obligations as signatories to the United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery. Likewise, the international community must insist on monitoring compliance through working diplomatic corps. Finally, the international community should now add the full weight of their influence by asking the Saudi government to legalize the status of Yemeni former slave citizens in their country. They must make it clear that offering these people Refugee status or merely providing them technically with a host country in Saudi Arabia is neither an effective nor acceptable solution for all the particular reasons of this particular case. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia has, as yet, made no offer.