Like many countries of world, Yemen has celebrated the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights. Most of the world’s nations announced on December 10th, 1948, that human beings must be equal regardless of their religion, language, race, color, etc.

So, people in every country celebrate this day to assess   progress or regress of their basic rights.

In a country like Yemen,  where poverty, illiteracy, and corruption  very light, it is difficult to  speak   about progress in human rights, but at the same time it is  unfair to deny efforts being exerted to improve the level of rights.

The government speaks about the importance of human rights, civil society and political parties, media and international organizations in Yemen speak about the importance of improving human rights.  So, their    assessment for human rights during 2007 was different. It ranged between progresses, very little progress, and regress.

I agreed with those who said there was very little progress in human rights in Yemen during 2007.

To achieve more progress during the upcoming years, I would suggest the following:

•The government officials must stop boasting of legislation on human rights whether the local or the international documents it signed or ratified. They can only boast of application of the legislation and of making concrete progress in rights and liberties of people. Yemen has signed and ratified about 60 international documents on human rights and other areas. It seems that Yemen, never hesitates to sign or ratify any convention. But application is another issue, for Yemen. 

•For the civil society and political parties, it is not enough for them to criticize the government and blame it for not improving human rights. They must play their own role to protect and promote human rights.

•The media of government and that of the parties must stay away from propaganda on human rights and other issues.  Without free and independent media, human rights will remain meaningless slogans.

•The international organizations and donors must raise their voice on all for the sake of human rights. Violations committed under the pretext of security and combating terror must not be ignored.  Giving money is not all the issue. Objective and constructive criticism to the government and civil society over abuses will be very helpful for achieving progress in human rights.