Violence against Women and Street Children on Rise

Yemeni parliament approved some amendments related to crimes and punishment law numbered 12 of 1994. These amendments make the law adaptable to international human rights treaties endorsed by Yemen, especially those relating to women and children.

A parliament committee charged with studying amendments project said on Tuesday it studied all phenomena that harms the society including children exploitation.

It inserted an entire entry containing three chapters addressing children exploitation crimes, children smuggling and begging, hinting it dealt with some remarks provided by the concerned authorities as for the shortcomings in addressing revenge killing issues and children delinquency.

Moreover, the committee added that it provided a whole matrix of legal articles proposed by government relating to women and children, after searching into and verifying the different sayings of religious scholars. The new-amended law includes two articles on sorcery and prostitution.

A newly released study revealed 2694 incidents of violence against women during 2007 including physical attack. 

These incidents left behind 88 women killed among them 24 were killed unintentionally. They also cause 970 varying injuries. Over 354 girls fell victims to early marriage (child marriage).

Several studies stress that poverty, illiteracy and inherited customs are to blame for the increased violence against women.

In return, women were not innocent of committing crimes and violence against their fellow women or men. The statistics indicated that women involved in criminal issues reached 1197 over 2007.

Among those women involved with violent crimes are 156 female delinquents, 11 women of foreign nationalities and 68 women of Arab nationalities.

Crimes committed by women included 150 theft crimes, 35 crimes of killing or attempted killing.

Meanwhile, a recent study conducted in eight provinces pointed out that over 3,000 children in Yemen take streets as homes and sources for getting income (street children).

The three-month study conducted by the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood divided street children into types; the first type is those children who just take streets as place for making money while the second type involves those children who resorted to streets for work and living.

It also emphasized the importance of setting a comprehensive national plan built on the final conclusions of the study in order to make special policies for addressing childhood issues.

Further, the study listed the different risks children might face in streets including harassment, violence and low payment.