Friday the 11th of October is International Day of the Girl and an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that girls all over the world still face every day.
In July of this year, the UK and UNICEF sponsored Girl Summit, an event held in a school in London which aimed to galvanise a global movement to support the rights of girls including ending the practices of child forced and early marriage, and of female genital mutilation within a generation: compatible with the National Dialogue outcomes and Yemen’s international obligations.
Government and civil society representatives from all over the world, including Yemen, joined in, with governments making a public commitment to support setting the age of marriage in the law and pledging to end all forms of violence against girls. This was an excellent outcome.
In parallel, the UK-based Yemeni diaspora launched a campaign called LilYemen and, among other things, held an event in Sana’a a few days before Girl Summit. I was one of those lucky enough to attend and was inspired by the fantastic energy and commitment in the room from men and women alike.
In April this year, a draft law on child rights was submitted to former PM Basindwa for transmission to Parliament. In accordance with the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), the law defines a child as a person below the age of 18 years and addresses a range of issues such as the right to birth registration, the protection of children from conscription into armed forces, the age of marriage for boys and girls, and female genital mutilation.
The UK and others in the international community very much welcomed this comprehensive draft law as it was a step towards making concrete the outcomes of the NDC. Unfortunately, the law never reached Parliament as Cabinet discussions reached an impasse and the law was then passed to a cross-ministerial technical committee to review.
In the meantime, the events of the last three weeks have turned everything upside down in Yemen. The signing of the Peace and National Partnership Agreement (PNPA) allowed Yemen to refocus on some of the NDC outcomes and steps in the GCC Initiative although there are concerns about the intentions of some groups towards women’s rights and social freedoms.
There are so many things that need to be done in Yemen and it can be difficult working out where to start. But a society is judged by how it treats its children: protecting and promoting their rights is fundamental for the progress of any society. After all, today’s children are tomorrow’s adults – and the future of Yemen.