Statement of Yamaniyat Conference
Empowering Women: The Path to True and Sustainable Peace
The Yamaniyat Conference is being held in the city of Taiz, southwest Yemen, today, Thursday, October 10, 2024, entitled ” Empowering Women through Media for Peace.” The Conference is supported by the Canal France International (CFI) and organized by the Studies and Economic Media Center (SEMC) as the first in-person conference in journalism and media that brings together male and female journalists, human rights activists, advocates for women’s issues, and representatives from media institutions and civil society organizations from various Yemeni governorates.
Today, more than male and female 100 participants are gathering to emphasize the need to take more effective steps to advocate for women’s issues, support their media presence, empower them to reach decision-making positions, and play tangible roles in the peace process.
We are all aware of the difficult situations our country has been experiencing since March 2015 and the political, economic, and social adverse impacts on Yemeni women. This serves as a significant motivation to work towards improving the status of women through all possible means, enhancing their presence at all levels, and ultimately fostering a full awareness among decision-makers and parties to the conflict about the necessity of involving women and granting them the opportunity to fulfill their legally guaranteed roles.
Holding the Conference in person amid the current events in Yemen reaffirms what we began together at the Makanati project, implemented by SEMC, and supported by CFI during 2021 and 2022. This project led to the establishment of the Makanati Network to support women’s issues in Yemen. Subsequently, the Yamaniyat project follows the same aim, emphasizing the necessity of women’s presence in decision-making positions and the peace process.
Through the Yamaniyat Conference and our efforts over the past period at the SEMC and the CFI, we call on the Yemeni government to commit to its promises regarding women’s empowerment by implementing practical programs to involve women in the peace process and to appoint them to managerial positions within the government. We also emphasize the agreement reached during the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference, in 2013, to allocate 30% of managerial positions for women.
We call on the conflicting parties to set aside women from their conflict and to quit moral and physical abuse targeting women. Yemeni women have paid a heavy price, and it is time to put an end to this suffering and to closing off the past and starting afresh ensuring all parties recognize the partnership of women and the importance they represent at all levels. It is also important for all Yemeni parties to understand that comprehensive and sustainable peace cannot be achieved unless all Yemeni parties, including women, are partners and active participants in it.
We appeal to all local and international organizations to enhance interventions that contribute to empowering Yemeni women and increasing their presence, enabling them to reach decision-making positions and contribute to economic and social development. We also call for support to ensure their participation in peace negotiations and to help shape the future of Yemen with the involvement of all its citizens, without exclusion or marginalization.
We also call on the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Mr. Hans Grundberg, to work with all Yemeni parties to ensure the presence of women in any upcoming peace negotiations, reflecting their active and influential role in society currently. It is essential to move beyond the minimal representation observed in previous negotiations and conferences organized by the UN and all international sponsors.
It is time to see Yemeni women in decision-making positions, possessing the power and effectiveness to influence decision-making and policy formulation at both national and local levels. It is important to remind that the continued neglect of true partnership with Yemeni women represents one of the main reasons for the deteriorating situation Yemen has been experienced currently. If we want Yemen to progress ahead, women must have their leadership and true, active presence in power and society.
Issued by Yamaniyat Conference
Taiz city- Yemen
October 2024
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