SANA'A: In coordination with the Yemeni Human Rights Minister, Hooria Mashour, Amal Hassan a young woman who only a few months ago was herself a victim of marital abuse is launching a national campaign which will promote women's rights. Amal whose story was featured in several international publications and Arab sites as she struggled to free herself from an unhappy and abusive marriage, sought out Minister Mashour's help, spurring on the need for a campaign which would focus on women rights in Yemen. President of the newly founded NGO, Haraer (which means ‘independence' in Arabic), Amal said she wanted to free women from the shackles of unfair laws which rather than reflect Islamic traditions were promoting a biased interpretation of the holy scriptures, betraying the very nature of Islam and its position regarding women. “The Quran clearly states that women are an important part of society, protecting their rights well beyond western standards… Women in Islam are viewed as the very pillars of society, potent beings and valuable assets. Instead the judiciary in Yemen prefers to enslave them in a system which benefits men,” said Amal to Bikyamasr.com. Haraer will work at promoting a fairer and un-discriminatory culture in Yemen, bringing together the judiciary, tribal leaders, local representatives and ordinary people. In an exclusive statement to Bikyamasr.com, Amal Hassan revealed her campaign program, saying: “We recognize as a major problem the sagging of the judicial system in Yemen and the Constitution which emptied Islam's fairness by misinterpreting our religion, especially when it comes to family law and women's rights. Laws were based on discriminatory grounds which are incompatible with human rights. Yemeni women in particular suffer as a result of this marginalization. Excluded and robbed from their most basic and inherent rights, women suffer from deep-rooted, socially tolerated abuse, leading often to psychological scarring. This varies from one layer of society to the next, depending on the level of education and awareness. Clearly the lack of awareness and social understanding of the seriousness of the problem faced by women is reflected by the practices of those in charge of households in their discriminatory treatment against women. These practices can be a serious obstacle to the implementation of any laws aimed to protect women, and undoubtedly this mentality escalates the problem so that women continue to be victimized, and in some cases more so as they themselves contribute to it as a result of social conditioning and ignorance. Knowing that the victims of this phenomenon are women and children, we will spare no effort in trying to push for better laws. In our campaign we are keen in particular to ensure real changes to the Yemeni constitution, and we will not stop there as we continue to press the Yemeni government to apply the law. Most importantly, will be the involvement of Islamic clerics and intellectuals to promote, discuss and find solutions for Yemeni women, who constitute half the population. We seek to reflect our desire for justice and to reject any misinterpretation of our religion by some people in a male dominated society, showing their ignorance. In our campaign we emphasize the fact that without justice for women and without the real participation of women in all walks of life we can't achieve our civil state. That is why women have to fight hard for their basic rights; they deserve peace of mind and security to ensure real integration into Yemeni society and enable them to take part in helping Yemen to move forward.” Human Rights Minister, Hooria Mashour said she wanted to unlike previous campaigns bring closer together clerics and activists as the main goal was to apply what was already in the Quran. “We identified the need for the entire community to work together rather than against each other. Since Islam already explicitly states women rights we are merely trying to apply those very principles and to fight tradition and misconceptions,” said the Minister. Several prominent clerics in Yemen and tribal leaders have already expressed their support, assuring the ministry that they would stand ready to assist the campaign every step of the way. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/XhNgi Tags: Campaign, Human, rights, Women's, Yemen Section: Human Rights, Latest News, Women, Yemen
