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Yemen, 8 August, 2018: The Women Solidarity Network has been following the efforts led by the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Mr Martin Griffiths, that are aiming at reviving the peace process, after a prolonged armed conflict, and catastrophic humanitarian consequences, in our country, Yemen. We have observed the recent consultative meeting held at Wilton Park in London, convening 22 Yemeni leading figures including 3 prominent women, to discuss the resumption of the political process.

While we take this opportunity to voice our pride and support to the Yemeni women participating in this consultative meeting, and while we highly appreciate the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to end the war in Yemen, we cannot but condemn the failure of the UN Envoy Office to commit to a fair representation of women. We take this opportunity to remind the UN Envoy of our letter  that we have sent in March earlier this year. We also emphasize on our former and continuous demand for a no less than 30% participation of women, as per the National Dialogue outcomes, which is considered a reference document guiding the political process under the UNSC resolution 2216 (2015). We expect that the UN will take commitments towards gender equity seriously and will support women’s equal participation of no less than 50%.

The Women Solidarity Network as such voice our disappointment and anger. We consider the UN’s failure in supporting a fair representation of women is a failure towards its own commitments, principles, and resolutions, and a continuation of the patriarchal system.

Finally, we reaffirm that we will not accept those discriminative practices towards the Yemeni women and we will not tolerate any representation that is less than 30% in any following meetings or upcoming negotiations. We call on the international community and donors to take firm measures towards this discrimination.

The Women Solidarity Network

Our letter issued last March: https://yemenwomenvoices.wordpress.com/

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