Why Yemen’s Horror Is Not Just War!

It is not just war that has robbed people of their right to a dignified life. Brutality against women is another huge factor. 

Crime against women is rampant in an Islamic country like Yemen

The Civil war in Yemen has made the life miserable for women. The war has drastically cut support services for women.  Many such women have been subjected to slave labour and sexual violence as well.

Women have been subjugated and ill treated in Yemen more after the war started. Most of them are married off underage. They are kept as sex slaves and subjected to physical beating as well.  Places that were to act as safe haven for them have not had UN support for a long time due to conflicting needs of a dwindling sick and poor population.

If not this, then women are under attack by armed men who exploit and subjugate women.  Yemen has a large displaced population, of which 83percent makes up for women.

In Yemen, there is no statutory law that states the age for marriage. Therefore crime against underage women is rampant. Strangely, domestic violence is ingrained into the religious and Yemeni family structures too. The Turba centre has been looking after women who have suffered under attack from various elements. But as the funding reduced to the UN Yemen programme, their ways of helping such women has been a compromise.

Gamil Gemayel is the manager of the centre. He shares with the British daily newspaper the Guardian how since its opening in 2016, the Turba centre has treated 2,250 women and children. However, the pressures on its services are huge and growing, according to Gemayel. An estimate around 80% of women in the area have suffered some trauma as a result of the war.

Children are no better. Many of those living in camps are subjected to malnutrition or aftermaths of war, in the form of psychological issues too.