Yemen
Yemen adopted its first National Action Plan (NAP) in December 2019 for the period 2020-2022. The NAP was developed by a number of government ministries, with the involvement of civil society and UN agencies in developing, drafting, and reviewing the NAP. This consultative process included an initial three-day workshop to formulate the goals and framework of the NAP. The NAP’s four overarching objectives, which are grouped under participation, prevention, protection, and relief and recovery, reflect the pillars of UNSCR 1325. The NAP is contextualized by how the war in Yemen has decimated the economy, led to widespread displacement and an increase in poverty, and created a dire humanitarian situation, which affects civilians, including women and girls. The document describes the differential impacts of the conflict on women and girls and their human rights, including on issues such as sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage, education, health, and the right to live in dignity, safety, and stability as well as contextualizing these issues within the framework of international human rights and humanitarian law.
The most recent history of armed conflict in Yemen’s history is the country’s civil war, which has been ongoing since 2014. The current situation in Yemen has been described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” An estimated 24 million people (80% of the population) rely on humanitarian assistance to survive, over 100,000 people have been killed over five years of war, and 4 million people have been displaced. Conflict parties have engaged in arbitrary detention, including of human rights activists and journalists, enforced disappearance, and torture, including sexual violence. All parties to the conflict have violated international humanitarian law, including bombing civilian infrastructure and residential areas. Restrictions and delays on humanitarian access have inhibited the ability for people to access the food and medical assistance they need.
The war in Yemen is being fueled by the involvement of international actors and the influx of arms from abroad. WILPF and partner research has identified that arms transfers from countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, and Germany have been linked to human rights abuses in Yemen and have contributed to a rise in gender-based violence.
In addition to being in the forefront of the 2011 uprisings in Yemen, women have played a key role throughout the war through delivering humanitarian response as well as conducting mediation and peacebuilding efforts.
CEDAW
1984
Global Gender Gap Index 2020
153 out of 153
Arms Trade Treaty Not Ratified
Military expenditure (2019)
NOT AVAILABLE
Explore Yemen's National Action Plan
NAP Development
The NAP states that civil society participated in the development of the NAP, including in the initial workshop to formulate the initial concept for the NAP and the drafting and review process. A full list of all entities that were involved in the NAP development is listed in an appendix (pg. 15).
A number of government ministries were involved in different stages of the process of developing the NAP, including workshops, consultative discussions, and the technical drafting and review team. The full list of agencies who were involved in the different stages of the process is listed in the appendices. The technical team consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, the Yemeni Women Union and Women National Committee. Missing from this was the office of the National Dialogue Minister.
NAP Implementation
An implementation matrix (starting on pg. 17) identifies the stakeholders responsible for each stage of implementation of the NAP. NGOs are identified as responsible actors for a range of activities within the implementation matrix. For example, one activity for which NGOs are identified as responsible for implementation is “preparing studies and research on violence against women and girls, and on sexual violence in conflicts” (pg. 21).
The implementation matrix identifies the stakeholders responsible for each stage of implementation of the NAP. Most of this responsibility lies with different ministries in the Government of Yemen including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Human Rights, and Ministry of Defense.
NAP Monitoring and Evaluation
The NAP states that the monitoring and evaluation process will involve all government agencies and NGOs that are responsible for carrying out the activities outlined in the NAP.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is responsible for setting up follow-up and evaluation mechanisms for the NAP (pg. 14), and the NAP states that the monitoring and evaluation process will involve all government agencies and NGOs that are responsible for carrying out the activities outlined in the NAP.
The implementation period for the NAP is 2 years (2020-2021).
The NAP contains four main strategic objectives, which align with the pillars of the Women, Peace and Security agenda:
To enhance women's participation at all levels in decision-making positions.
To ensure the prevention of conflicts and all forms of sexual violence, extremism and terrorism.
To enhance the protection of women from all forms of violence.
To provide women with their humanitarian needs during and post-conflict, in gender-sensitive ways.
The NAP has an implementation matrix which outlines outputs, interventions/activities, indicators, actors responsible for implementation, and timeframe for each output. Each of the strategic objectives of the NAP has a number of outputs and indicators. For example, the activity “involving women in peace negotiations to at least 30%” (pg. 17) is accompanied by an indicator “percentage of women’s participation in peace negotiations”, the responsible actors are the Cabinet and the United Nations, and the timeframe is the duration of the NAP (2020-2022).
The NAP identifies several indicators for each objective, outlined in the implementation matrix. For example, under the participation outcome, indicators include “Percentage of women’s participation in peace negotiations” and “increase in the percentage of women in decision making positions” (pg. 17).
There is minimal detail provided in the NAP regarding monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is responsible for setting up follow-up and evaluation mechanisms for the NAP (pg. 14), and the NAP states that the monitoring and evaluation process will involve all government agencies and NGOs that are responsible for carrying out the activities outlined in the NAP. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is also responsible for forming the programming and activities to achieve the required goals of the NAP, and it is stated that “these goals are subject to evaluation and development considering new developments.”
The NAP does not mention a budget.