In Yemen, human rights monitors give voices to victims
When it comes to gathering the true facts behind the headlines of human rights violations, UN Human Rights Office monitors in Yemen put their lives on the line to ensure victims’ voices are heard.
Mohammed Ali Mosleh sat atop the rubble gesturing. The piles of masonry and rocks were all that remained of two buildings that had once been apartments. On 25 August 2017 just after midnight, bombs had dropped on the buildings, killing 30 people, injuring scores of others, destroying the buildings, including his family apartment. And to this day, Mosleh still does not understand why.
“There was no military here. We are just people. Why were we targeted? To this day, no one has told us why,” he said.
Near him, Hisham Al-Mekhlafi and Aidi Al Monify listened, asked more questions and took notes. As UN Human Rights Office monitors in Yemen, it was part of their job to observe and gather information on such incidents.
“OHCHR monitors did not find any military objects in this area,” Al-Mekhlafi said. “But all the casualties were civilian, and they are protected under international law. Therefore this attack was targeting civilians.”
Since March 2015 more than 8,000 people have died and 49,000 injured in fighting between forces loyal to the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied with the Houthi movement and the army units loyal to the former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Since 2012, it has been the job of UN Human Rights Office monitors to go into places where human rights violations may have taken place and to document civilian casualties. They go to hospitals to speak to the injured. They interview eye witnesses and even count dead bodies at the scene. Using this information they help piece together the events that took place and who was responsible for the actions. These are both placed into monthly reports and a database of information available for use by other UN agencies and international agencies.
The work of staff like Al-Mekhlafi and Al Monify has been crucial in documenting and reporting on the conflict in Yemen, said Mohammad Ali Alnsour, chief of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) section of the UN Human Rights Office.
“Our national monitors are the backbone of our work in the field and in a conflict area, like Yemen. They travel using simple tools — using mobile phones, visiting hospitals, schools and sites of air strikes. They play a crucial role and are the main engine of our work in Yemen.”
Dangerous work
Human rights monitors in Yemen often find themselves investigating areas where civilians, including children have been killed by airstrikes or shelling. It is imperative that they take testimonies and gather evidence of what has happened soon after an incident has occurred. Maeen Sultan Al-Abidi is a human rights lawyer who monitors the Taizz area in the southwest of the country. It is acknowledged as having undergone some of the heaviest fighting since the start of the current conflict. The people of Taizz have had to endure a siege, regular bombings, shelling and food and water shortages. Moving through the city to document what has happened was difficult and at times, dangerous, she said.
“Sometimes, I felt that when I went out to do my job, I would never go back home,” Sultan Al-Abidi said. “But it is my job to monitor and document these violations. If I step down, if everyone sits in their house, then the violations will increase and the victims will have no voice.”
It’s this sense of giving a voice to the victims and reminding the world of what is happening in Yemen that drives many human rights monitors. It is hard not to be affected when you see people dead or injured or homes destroyed, said Al Monify, a human rights officer in Sana’a. It changes a person. He said it has made him unable to get a full night’s sleep because of all he has had to bear witness to. And, he wouldn’t give up going out to each bomb site, each secret prison, each hospital room, because the ultimate aim is to protect everyone’s human rights, he said.
“I believe that when I defend human rights, I defend for my family, I defend for myself and I defend for my community,” Al Monify said. “I believe that if we shut our mouths and we don’t speak, who will speak about the rights of victims? If we allow our weaknesses to control us, those rights and the suffering of those victims will disappear.”
Respecting human rights
Sameera Belah monitors the Al Hudayah, a coastal area in southwest Yemen. In her time, she has investigated violations of freedom of expression and opinion, movement restrictions, and detentions. The former mathematics teacher said that becoming a human rights monitor was a turning point in her life. Before she used to tell students that they could claim their rights. Now, she can show them, she said.
“In the beginning, when I used to say that I was a monitor from the human rights office, people used to laugh,” she said. “There was a kind of denigration of what human rights defenders could do. But in time, we proved to the people that we have power and they have started respecting not just us, but human rights as well.”
Naser Qasem Al Shuaibi monitors the Al Dhale’e area of southern Yemen. Before being a human rights monitor, he was a journalist, who often reported on human rights abuses in Yemen. He said in the time he has been monitoring, he has seen an increase in awareness and respect for human rights. And he thinks the monitoring work has helped contribute to this.
“I am making a difference,” he said. “It may not be obvious right now, but in time those perpetrators (of human rights abuses) will be brought to justice.”
The monitors continue to work under such harsh conditions because they care about their country and this passion fuels their work, said Elobaid Elobaid, UN Human Rights Office Country Representative in Yemen.
“They can do a job and navigate and use their knowledge of their own country to make the best of situations,” Elobaid said. “We have an impressive number of monitors, but what is more impressive is that all of them, their commitment (to human rights) predated their professional engagement. That is something that people need to know about the monitors. They do not look at this as a job, they are deeply committed to human rights.”
You can watch a video about the work of monitors.
