Tawakkol Karman's Statement Prepared for the UN Security Council on Yemen

Despite crises across the Middle East commanding the world’s attention, the tragedy of Yemen has receded to the margins of international concern. Yet, millions of civilians continue to pay the price of a war they did not choose, a state stripped of its institutions, and a peace that has been delayed for far too long.

Today, I bring you their voices: Yemenis struggling to survive; women carrying the burdens of war; and children for whom the sound of gunfire has become more familiar than the school bell.

Yemen continues to face one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than twenty-two million people, including almost 11 million women and girls, require humanitarian assistance.

More than eighteen million, including over 2 million children under age five, face acute food insecurity. Over 5 million people are internally displaced. Over 4 million children are out of school. Most of the population lives below the poverty line amid the collapse of the economy, depreciation of the national currency, and disruptions to essential services, most importantly, education and healthcare.

Women and girls bear the heaviest burdens of war. 6.2 million women and girls need protection from gender-based violence, while 5.5 million require reproductive health services. Yemen has the highest maternal mortality rate in the region. Over 30% of girls are married before age 18.

Many women have become the primary breadwinners, amidst critical conditions.

This suffering is compounded by ongoing human rights violations while the war economy deepens poverty and hunger, expands arms-smuggling networks, and strengthens organized crime and extremism.

President, excellencies,

The root cause of Yemen’s humanitarian and human rights crisis is the collapse of the state. The Houthis bear primary responsibility for this collapse since they overthrew the transitional process and seized the capital, Sana’a, in 2014. They have since dismantled state institutions and imposed their authority through violence and the use of arms. They have violated women’s rights and restricted their ability to participate in public life. They have arbitrarily detained and disappeared civilians, including civil society, women activists, journalists, UN staff and politicians.

They have also subjected children to systematic ideological indoctrination to foster a culture of violence and hatred, and recruited them to fight. They have laid millions of landmines, and exploited humanitarian suffering as an instrument of war and political coercion.

Iran’s continued military, financial and logistical support to the Houthis has prolonged the war, undermined prospects for peace, and threatened regional security and freedom of international navigation.

At the same time, the internationally recognized government has fallen short of its responsibilities. Poor performance, lack of governance, internal divisions, and the management of the country’s affairs from outside Yemen, rather than from the interim capital, Aden, have contributed to weakening state institutions, undermining the rule of law, and eroding public trust in them.

Further, the intervention of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, as well as the UAE’s interventions in Yemen, have undermined the internationally recognized government. It has also led to the proliferation of non-state armed groups, human rights violations, deepened fragmentation and threats to Yemen’s unity and sovereignty.

To make matters worse, the international community has failed to fulfill its responsibility to implement Security Council resolutions, protect civilians and ensure accountability for perpetrators of crimes.

The recent developments in Yemen threaten to plunge the country back into a full-scale war. After years of a fragile truce that failed to address the root causes of the conflict, renewed clashes and Houthi missile attacks on Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as well as on shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, have demonstrated that the collapse of an effective Yemeni state is no longer a threat only to its own people: it also endangers international maritime security, global trade, and energy and supply chains security, and undermines regional and international peace and security.

Excellencies,

Throughout Yemen’s peaceful revolution, the transitional period, and the years of war, women have demonstrated that they are not merely victims of war, but indispensable actors in defending human rights, building peace, strengthening democratic institutions and rebuilding the country.

Nevertheless, women remain largely excluded from peace negotiations and decision-making, in clear violation of Resolution 1325 and the outcomes of Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference, which called for women’s participation at no less than 30 per cent. Subsequent peace negotiations did not meet the 30 per cent threshold, and women’s representation in governing institutions has remained extremely limited. The recent appointment of three women to ministerial positions—the first such appointments in six years—is a welcome step. However, it will remain insufficient unless it leads to the active and meaningful participation of women in all stages of peacebuilding and decision-making. No political process can be inclusive or sustainable while continuing to marginalize half of society.

President, Excellencies,

The Yemeni people are not asking the international community to make peace on their behalf. They are asking you to stand with them in their efforts to restore their state and build a united, democratic and sovereign Yemen.

Since Yemen’s peaceful revolution in 2011, the Security Council has been a key partner in supporting Yemen’s transitional process. The UN-supported National Dialogue Conference produced a historic national consensus and its outcomes remain the most realistic foundation for rebuilding the country.

Building on that legacy, and in order to build sustainable peace in Yemen, I urge the Security Council to take the following steps:

First: Press for an end to the war and all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Further, I urge you to support an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process that restores Yemen’s sovereignty and independent national decision-making; and rebuilds state institutions on the basis of equality, democracy, and rule of law. This will require unifying its military institutions, reforming the security sector and disarming armed groups; and advancing transitional justice, including redress and reparations for victims. Any political process must ensure women's active and meaningful participation—with no less than 30 percent representation—in peace negotiations and all decision-making bodies.

Second: Continue to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all persons arbitrarily detained or abducted, including civil society, women activists, journalists, UN staff, and politicians, and for families to be informed of the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. Protection and reintegration support should also be provided to those released and to their families. Ensure the removal of restrictions on humanitarian access, the reopening of roads, the lifting of blockades, and the safe, unimpeded and non-politicized delivery of humanitarian assistance, in full compliance with international law.

Third: Support all efforts to conduct independent and impartial investigations of all crimes committed by all parties during the conflict, including violations of women’s rights, targeting of politically active women, and all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and to ensure accountability of perpetrators, and justice for the victims. The Council should also consider establishing a special international judicial mechanism for Yemen to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Fourth: Press all parties to protect and reunify national economic institutions; ensure the regular payment of public-sector salaries; dismantle the war economy; prevent the use of humanitarian assistance, airports, ports, and economic infrastructure as instruments of political coercion or collective punishment; support recovery and reconstruction efforts, and combat corruption, with effective oversight and transparency.

Fifth: Press all external actors to end the provision of weapons, funding, training and military support to the Houthis and other armed groups. Further, the Council must enforce its sanctions regime and hold accountable all those who fuel human rights violations, undermine peace or threaten Yemen’s sovereignty, unity or territorial integrity.

President, Excellencies,

Fifteen years ago, I was deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for standing with my country and its brave people in their peaceful struggle for freedom, dignity, democracy and human rights. I invite you to stand with them — not only because they deserve peace, but because a sovereign, democratic and stable Yemen is essential to regional and international peace and security. The Yemeni people are ready to be your partners in building that future.

Thank you.

END

Media Contact:

Bill Omondi

[email protected]

Nobel Women’s Initiative is led by eight women Nobel Peace Prize laureates - Jody Williams (USA), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Tawakkol Karman (Yemen), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala), Narges Mohammadi (Iran), Maria Ressa (Philippines) and Oleksandra Matviichuk (Ukraine). Women are crucial to attaining lasting peace, and yet in times of war and conflict they are seen as victims, and too often excluded from formal peace-building processes. The laureates know the importance of women peacebuilders, and the challenges they face firsthand. At NWI they work together to use the platform and access that the Nobel Peace Prize offers to elevate the voices and support the work of women peace activists around the world.