Mohammed Almahfali
Documentation is the process of recording, examining, analyzing, and archiving information in order to present it to researchers, interested individuals, students, and decision makers, which entails taking specific policies, strategies, and plans based on that information later on.
The documentation process passes the following steps|
First: Accessing the information and recording it.
Second: Fact checking the information.
Third: Analyzing the information by comparing it from various sources.
Forth: Rephrasing the information in the form of reports, movies or other forms of documentation.
Fifth: Archiving the information in records or databases, according to a specific system to make it easy to access at any time.
All this aids in making the right decisions at the right place and time. Any disruption in accessing, recording, checking, archiving or presenting the information can result in further problems later on.
Documentation Obstacles in Yemen:
First, The Cultural & Educational Obstacles: There is a lack of awareness regarding the importance of this issue, whether from society in general, institutions, or even from the minority community itself. Even with the development of documentation methods in the modern era, awareness of the importance of documentation has not reached the required level. This in turn has led to the loss of many rights due to the lack of necessary documentation that helps to form public opinion on the one hand and also pushes towards advocacy and decision-making.
As a direct result of this cultural impediment, it is important to point out that there is a mistrust between the minority community and activists. The fact that society is affected by the counter-advertising that the regimes use which imply that human rights activists are agents of foreign countries or that they are financially beneficiaries of foreign organizations and that they take the rights and the aid given to these communities. This in turn reflects negatively on the extent of cooperation with these communities and obtaining correct information.
Secondly, The Political Obstacles: This is in regards to the management of police repressive regimes, whether by state agencies in the past or by the current conflicting militias, which seek to obliterate any evidence of violations, whether against minorities or any other violations. It also seeks to shape a specific vision of itself to be viewed by the local and international community. For example, according to its statement to the United Nations, the Yemeni authorities stated that there is no marginalized society in Yemen and that all people in Yemen are treated equally, which is lacking in credibility and is contrary to the reality on the ground. This also aids to perpetuate marginalization and differences between citizens, which then normalizes this marginalization and makes it acceptable even to minority groups themselves.
Third, Logistics Obstacles: Even if some organizations wanted to utilize what was available for documentation, there are difficulties in reaching victims due to poor infrastructure, such as the lack of basic services, Internet, and poorly qualified workers in this field.
Report on Minorities in Yemen
An Attempt to Document … An Attempt to Defend Minorities
We are fully aware of the importance of information as the basis on which to build any upcoming activities or projects, which is why INSAF Center prioritized publishing this book. This will allow us to now follow different paths and projects, such as conducting thorough searches into each minority, and working on projects aimed at defending the freedoms of these minorities and ensuring a decent life for each individual in these communities as any other individual in Yemeni society in general.
Historical loopholes:
Sources used in writing this report:
While preparing this report, we relied on the following sources:
First: Books & Scientific research papers. Unfortunately, the literary output in this aspect is very little, and what books or research papers we found that discuss the situation of minorities lacks deep research into the minority community or that it only focuses on specific characteristics or a specific phenomenon. In other words, the existing sources available regarding minorities either bear a general nature with most referencing and copying from each other or focus only on a specific point. Additionally, there is a historical gap and lack of documentation when it comes to minority communities, especially the historical development of these communities as is the case with Jews, Christians, as well as Ismailis.
Second: Reports Issued by International & Local Organizations. These reports are plenty, however, minorities have always been a very minor part of them. Even when briefly mentioned during a discussion of any issue, there are no specific comprehensive reports that address minorities and describe their situation in Yemen.
Third: Press Articles. The problem with this type of article lies in the fact that most of them belong to the parties to the conflict, and therefore these articles are mostly part of the media war between the different sides of the conflict. This puts us in a dilemma when confronted by these articles, and we find ourselves having to thoroughly examine them first to ensure the extent of the credibility of the information contained therein, then criticizing it before being able to use any of it.
Fourth: INSAF Center’s Private Sources. Established through a network of relationships that the Center has woven with minorities within Yemen. We have been able to access some specific information about these minorities, especially regarding their current pension status and the challenges they face.
It can be argued that this is the first publication that deals in a somewhat concentrated manner the situation of minorities in Yemen, which should aid humanitarian rights work in Yemen. This of course does not mean that it is a complete work, but it marks the beginning towards emphasizing the process of documentation and recording accurate information that could help scholars, donors and experts in order to develop plans to confront the problems that these minorities face and aid in protecting and defending their freedoms.
Sections the Book:
The book was divided according to the minorities in Yemen into the following:
Jews
Al-Muhamasheen (The Marginalized)
Ismailis
Baha’is
Christians
We focused our research within each section according to the following criteria:
First: The Definition of a Minority
Second: A brief history of that minority in Yemen, and any transformations in its status. Some minorities were dominant or the majority, such as Judaism and Christianity, at one point.
Third: The current political and social situation of the minority.
Fourth: The violations that minority faces.
A Conclusion to the report on the situation of minorities:
The report showed that there is a common factor in the situation of minorities in Yemen, where they have always been the victims. These violations against them come from religious, political, and social authorities.
This means that these violations against minorities have people who justify and defend them, which makes these violations an essential part of the structure of society and an act that is practiced naturally instead of being viewed as a pariah or undesirable act.
The religious authorities have in the past – and still continue today – to work on giving a religious cover to the practice of violations against religious minorities. Ever since the violations committed by the Jewish religious authority that once ruled Yemen against Christians in the past, to the religious authority that now claims to represent Islam and governs Sana’a which practices violence against the Baha’is.
These religious authorities have been providing a religious cover to their acts, claiming to protect religion from these religious minorities, describing them as a threat to the faith. This in turn gives their followers the legitimacy necessary to inflict these violations.
As for the political authority, it works to exploit other authorities in order to achieve its interests, which are often intertwined with the religious authority. This is due to the fact that clerics are often the tool to control people. These minorities are often used as a pretext for the failure of these political authorities, and are then attacked and accused of being part of a political conspiracy or spies, as the Houthis now accuse Bahais and Jews.
The social authority is more clearly apparent and effective in relation to the violations that marginalized people are exposed to, namely the minority known as Al-Akhdam (the servents) named after their dark color skin. The members of this minority might actually reach approximately 2 million individuals.
This is one of the most difficult things to deal with. We are dealing with a cultural pattern that is not visible, but is present in the subconscious of people. They deal with marginalized people in a racist way without even realizing that they are being racist because they were brought up and learned these behaviors against the marginalized from within society over the centuries, until it became part of the culture they live in and which has become difficult to control or change.
This goes beyond the issue of education and awareness. In spite of the religious culture that promotes equality and the idea that all people are equal and that there is no preference regardless of skin color, the society itself who believes in these principles freely practices the act of racism with no sense of guilt. This is due to the fact that many in society do not view the marginalized as part of mankind in the first place, but rather choose to think of equality only within the majority population itself, not between the majority and the minorities. We are facing a real dilemma, and are in need of a national strategy to change and rebuild awareness and social culture values.
This paper was delivered at a seminar organized by the INSAF Center at the Swiss Press Club, 5 March 2020 Geneva
