On the eighth of March of each year, the countries of the world celebrate International Women’s Day. To celebrate, reports are prepared to assess the status of women and identify the problems and obstacles that violate women’s rights, and timetables are set to address these problems and violations of women’s rights through the combined efforts of all: state institutions, the local community, and the international community, as most violations of women's rights intersect and are repeated in many countries of the world.
These efforts are done through cooperation, coordination, and the exchange of experiences, skills and expertise to address the violations of women's rights.
The most dangerous violation of the rights of Yemeni women is - the non-payment of salaries for most state employees in Yemen, which caused a widespread and accelerating collapse of the economy in Yemen and the collapse of the value of the national currency against the dollar due to the loss and dispersion of oil and gas revenues. They are lost in holes of corruption instead of benefiting from them and pumping them into the financial and banking system inside Yemen.
People of Yemen expected that the salaries of all state employees in Yemen would be disbursed before the advent of the month of Ramadan for this year, 1445 AH, 2024 AD, and that the understandings signed years ago between all parties in Yemen would be implemented, but this will not be achieved, and the cessation of the export of oil and gas and the interruption of salaries will continue without treatment, worsening the humanitarian situation of the Yemeni people faced by the Yemeni women. People still hope that all salaries of state employees will be paid, but the ropes of hope are being torn due to the continuation of wrong political stubbornness.
A large percentage of the number of employees whose salaries are cut in Yemen are female employees, who suffer the pain of being deprived of their salary that they relied on to purchase needs and meet the needs of their family.
The suffering of Yemeni women does not stop from the continued non-payment of salaries to female employees. Rather, Yemeni women are also the main victim of the non-payment of salaries to male state employees, as this has directly affected the situation of the Yemeni family, whose source of income has been cut off. There are many Yemeni families that have disintegrated due to the inability of employees to pay finance obligations and family expenses. The percentage of annulment and divorce lawsuits from state employees has increased in Yemeni courts due to the non-payment of salaries and the main victim is the Yemeni woman whose family is disintegrating without a logical reason.
The non-payment of salaries to state employees in Yemen also contributed greatly and directly to the collapse of the national economy and the insane rise and doubling of the prices of goods and services. Many Yemeni women sold their gold and other possessions to cover their family’s needs considering the non-payment of salaries to state employees in Yemen. The mother does not remain silent as she watches her son looking for money to cover the family’s needs, nor does the wife. Many of them sell their gold or sell the property they must cover the family’s needs.
The scale of suffering is great for Yemeni women without attention due to the continuing state of political stubbornness in the management of oil and gas resources. The DFA in Sana’a has put pressure on oil and gas export ports to stop edue to the IRA in Aden government’s seizure of its revenues. The exports stopped about a year ago and are continuing.
What we mentioned above explains the most important violations of the rights of Yemeni women, who suffer from the scourge of war and destruction. The war causes widespread violations of their rights, the disruption of basic public services such as health, education, electricity, and water. The non-payment of salaries for state employees in Yemen is not only because of the war, but also because of corruption in the administration of public revenues from gas and oil exports, which was covering more than 80% of the size of the general budget in Yemen before the war, most notably the disbursement of salaries to all state employees in Yemen in all governorates.
The oil and gas revenues are a sovereign revenue for all of Yemen. They maintain the prices and purchasing value of the national currency, the Yemeni riyal, which collapsed dramatically and accelerated immediately after the spread of corruption in oil and gas revenues exported from Yemen.
The confinement of salaries disbursement to the IRA’s governorates no longer covers the most important needs of the public employee due to the accelerating collapse of the purchasing value of the national currency and the decline in its value by more than 800%. Employees receive only small amounts of money that do not cover the employee’s purchase of basic needs.
All this financial crisis and economic collapse, which happened in Yemen, is the mainstream and the use of public revenues to achieve political targets, exacerbating the humanitarian situation of the Yemeni people in the governorates.
If political stability in the management of oil and gas revenues in Yemen is rejected, comprehensive transparency is enhanced, and it is completely transferred to cover the disbursement of salaries of state employees in Yemen in all governorates, without discrimination or exception, the financial crisis and the accelerating economic collapse will stop, and the purchasing value of the national currency will rise to a value higher than its value in 2014.
By then only, the price of the Yemeni riyal may return to less than fifty riyals per dollar instead of the current price of 1650 riyals per dollar in the governorates under the IRA government of Aden and 530 riyals per dollar in the governorates under the DFA government of Sana’a. The national currency will be unified throughout Yemen, at a price of fifty riyals to one dollar, and the prices of all goods and services that the Yemeni people need and import from abroad will decrease by eighty percent.
Finally, on international women day, this is a call on all Yemeni parties to fulfill their obligations and stop violations of Yemeni women’s rights, most notably the urgent payment of the salaries of all state employees in Yemen, retroactively since their discontinuation, which will stop the continuation of the economic and financial collapse and will stop a large series of violations of Yemeni women’s rights. The non-payment of salaries caused her to be deprived of her human rights, whether as a state employee or as a citizen who was deprived of her expenses and her legitimate rights of food, drink, housing, health care, etc.
in this day there is a hope that everyone will review their accounts” deeds”, and everyone will work to stop the suffering of the Yemeni people and stop violations of the rights of Yemeni women, as cutting off salaries to state employees is considered the most serious violation.
Photo by: Nashwan Sadiq