Spotlight regularly features a significant individual or team from the Human Rights community to answer questions put by students from the University of Essex. This month, we focus on Yemeni human rights organisation, Mwatana for Human Rights.
Mwatana is a human rights NGO working in Yemen, and was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize along with UK organisation Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT). Mwatana are working towards a society where every person enjoys rights and justice, through documenting, supporting and influencing.
The team at Mwatana verifies and documents human rights violations, provides legal support to victims, lobbies for human rights led legislation and demands redress and accountability on behalf of the victims. They also use social media, films and other materials to raise awareness among young people about their human rights, and use training and capacity building to equip human rights workers with the skills to be more effective in their work.
Students’ Questions Answered
Osamah Alfakih is the Advocacy Director for Mwatana for Human Rights. Osamah has been with Mwatana for over 6 years, after holding positions at Human Rights Watch and the Danish Refugee Council.
We are honoured that Osamah has graciously agreed to answer questions sent in by the students of the Human Rights Centre at Essex, particularly during what is an exceptionally busy time for Mwatana.
Firstly, congratulations on your 2021 Nobel Peace Prize nomination. What does it mean to you all at Mwatana?
International recognition means a lot to the team and gives them strength to continue working in defending human rights in Yemen.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen has dropped off the news radar since the Covid pandemic swept the world. Can you give us an assessment of the current situation in Yemen in terms of the conflict and the humanitarian impact on health services and access to food and water?
Yemen became the worst man-made humanitarian crisis in the world and the warring parties’ violations have contributed significantly to this situation. Furthermore, the warring parties in Yemen, including Ansar Allah (also known as the Houthis) and the Saudi/ UAE-led coalition, have attacked the health sector in different ways. Mwatana has documented such attacks in a joint report with Physicians for Human Rights which was released in March 2020.
The parties to the conflict in Yemen have waged war with a disregard for international norms that has increasingly obliterated Yemenis’ capacity to survive.
What are the biggest challenges you face working in a conflict zone?
Yemen is a very challenging situation for human rights workers. In addition to the challenges of the poor infrastructure, there are significant challenges related to the reactions of the warring parties and the security situation. Some of Mwatana staff members have been detained, forcibly disappeared, threatened, intimidated, physically attacked and smeared in online campaigns.
The majority of the detention cases were committed by the Houthis, while the majority of the smearing campaigns were launched by those who are pro Saudi-coalition and the internationally recognized government of Yemen. The purpose of the warring parties in attacking Mwatana is more or less the same; to silence an independent voice that exposes their violations and abuses.
Yemen is a complex environment with multiple parties and conflicting interests. How do you ensure neutrality in delivering protection and humanitarian services to all?
Firstly, Mwatana doesn’t work in delivering humanitarian services or aid. Mwatana only works on documenting violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, advocating for human rights in Yemen locally and internationally, and providing legal support to victims of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in all areas under the control of all warring parties and authorities. These are the only services we provide.
One of the principles in Mwatana’s code of conduct (which is obligatory to be signed by all staff members) is neutrality. We do our best in conducting background checks, before hiring staff, to ensure their neutrality. In addition, the information of incidents gathered by the field team goes through different levels of verification to ensure accuracy. We keep monitoring the situation on the ground and ensure that we are documenting violations committed by all warring parties, no matter what the background of the perpetrator or the victim.
How has the Covid pandemic impacted on your work and what is the covid status in Yemen right now? Do people have access to the vaccine? If not, what is your message to Western and Gulf governments who have already completed successful vaccination programs in their own countries?
The pandemic impacted our field work for some time, and the field team was required to minimize their movement and take the necessary measures when working. Unfortunately, there is no clear data about the Covid19 situation in Yemen, particularly in the areas under the control of the Houthis; they are imposing restrictions in conducting tests and vaccine access in their areas. The vaccine is only available in the areas of the internationally recognized government of Yemen. There is a need to push the authorities in Yemen, and specifically the Houthis, to allow for the vaccine to enter their areas and be transparent about the number of cases and the Covid19 situation.
What more should the international community be doing to help end the conflict in Yemen and support the Yemeni people?
The international community can do a lot to positively change the situation in Yemen if it has the political will. One of the many aspects that the international community can help with is supporting the efforts toward ensuring accountability. The disgraceful vote that took place at the last 48th Human Rights Council session, to end the mandate of the UN Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen (GEE), should be a turning point for the international community to support an international criminally-focused investigative mechanism for Yemen similar to the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria. Supporting accountability and redress in Yemen should be considered as one of the key factors to establish a durable peace in Yemen.
In such a dynamic and fast changing situation on the ground, how do you access the most up to date information and keep your operations safe?
The team that documents the violations and abuses on the ground works on a daily-basis, and the recruited staff are from the areas where they work which helps, since they are familiar with their areas. Moreover, their daily work includes the regular process of verification that is conducted by the supervisors and the communication with the field team helps in keeping ourselves up to date regarding the situation of human rights on the ground.
There is no full protection for us. Anything could happen to the staff and it has already happened, such as detention. We try to do our best to protect ourselves. Being neutral and independent and working on the violations of all warring parties gives us some protection, because they know we are monitoring the behaviour of all sides; however, there is no full protection.
What is your view of the UK and US involvement in arming Saudi Arabia, and the use of airstrikes and drone strikes in US counterterrorism operations in Yemen? Are adequate precautions being taken to protect civilians from these operations?
All warring parties in Yemen failed miserably to protect civilians, to hold perpetrators accountable and/ or even provide reparations for victims. Involvement in arming warring parties is involvement in the violations committed by the warring parties, such the case of the UK and the US in arming the coalition member states. Moreover, the coalition is not the only side in Yemen committing violations; Houthis also commit grave violations in attacking civilians and civilian objects in indiscriminate ground shelling, child recruitment, and planting landmines, for example. Moreover, the role of Iran in supporting the Houthis should not be ignored in this armed conflict.
What do you believe are the key attributes and skills necessary to enter a human rights and humanitarian career? Can you offer advice to those human rights students preparing to work in the field, particularly in areas of conflict?
Make sure to have a wide knowledge about the situation, and not to fall into the trap of polarization. You need to listen to people carefully and make sure to diversify your sources of information and know how to verify information. This is essential because too much false information might be circulated and could be considered as fact, while the truth is completely different or certain aspects hidden on purpose.
How can students and activists help you with your work?
Raising awareness about the situation in Yemen and calling on governments to support accountability and equally highlight violations of all warring parties either states or non-states actors.
What do you believe to be Mwatana’s biggest achievement and the biggest frustrations you face in your work?
Human Rights Workers should have patience and should understand that this battle would take a very long time before seeing results. Therefore, they always should have faith and hope.
We believe that some of our achievements include presenting accurate situation of human rights in Yemen globally, briefing the UN Security Council in May 2017 which was important in shedding light on the situation in Yemen at a critical moment, and contributing with our NGO partners in calling for the establishing of an international mechanism in 2017 and as a result, the UN Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen was established by the Human Rights Council in September 2017.
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