Yemenis Verbally and Physically Harassed in KSA and UAE, French Parliament Receives Evidence

YemenExtra

M.A.

Ninety-one Yemeni fishermen arrived at the fishing port in Hodeidah city, where they were detained by the Saudi authorities in their prisons.

The human rights office in the province explained that the fishermen who arrived on board seven boats were held in Jizan prisons in Saudi Arabia after being arrested from within the territorial waters of Yemen before 50 days.

The decision coincides with the visit of several French organizations working in the field of human rights, to refer to the file of violations against Yemeni detainees and expatriates in Saudi Arabia as well as Yemenis detained by the UAE, to the French parliament in order to investigate what it called the rights of Yemenis detained in prisons in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the cases of Yemeni residents’ rights in these countries.

Six French human rights groups submitted memos to the French House of Representatives, accompanied by full reports on the cases, witness testimonies and complaints of their families. The complaints said they were exposed to the worst forms of humiliation, abuse and persecution in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, not only by the security authorities, but by employers in the two countries, which threatens dire consequences and requires an international interaction with the complaints of Yemenis residing in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop these violations immediately.

A member of the Justice and Freedoms Committee of the French Parliament, Roland Mermoz, said that the French parliament intends to discuss the Yemeni file and submit a report to the European Parliament and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to demand that Saudi Arabia and the UAE stop increasing violations against Yemenis residing in their territory, especially since these victims do not find legal means to complain in the full absence of the role of civil society and civil rights organizations that can achieve their complaints impartially. Mermoz pointed out that thousands of Yemenis living in Saudi Arabia and the UAE suffer from unjustified security charges and persecution of “nationality” considerations.

He added that Yemenis in these countries suffer from hatred and racism towards them, where they are subjected to harassment “verbal and physical” by many citizens and employers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Furthermore, official figures in Saudi Arabia and the UAE indicate that the number of job vacancy reports increased by an exaggerated rate during the first quarter of this year, and these people flee within these countries while their lives are in danger. Most Yemeni workers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also not paid enough and some of them work without pay “for food and housing” only, an exploitation of public hatred of Yemenis, all these practices have been recorded by French human rights organizations based on situations that survived the hell of life in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to France, and some of these humanitarian violations are documented in videotapes provided by the relatives of these victims residing in Paris, while others are made by the Yemeni human rights organizations formally to the French parliament.

For his part, the director of the Organization of Justice and Human Rights in Paris said that his organization received 114 complaints documented as audio and video evidence sent by Yemeni human rights organizations, and Yemeni people residing in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the organization, from January 1 to mid-April, which is a sufficient number, according to French laws, that can bring them to Parliament and take international legal action against them.

These cases are of Yemenis who were arbitrarily imprisoned in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, some of whom were imprisoned in a mock trial of a “citizen” because he/she demanded his/her pay. The employer refused to perform this right for his knowledge that the authorities are on his side and that the laws in these countries only carry justice to the employer, whether he is “the victim or the guilty.”

According to the director of the organization, Louis Rehn, these victims confirmed that the prisons of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are full of Yemenis, whose number is not known to date. Most of these Yemenis have been taken for security reasons and spent periods of detention for months without charge.

In the absence of civil society organizations and politicization of the judiciary and authoritarianism, disastrous situations have been facing those Yemenis, not to mention hospitals refusing to treat patients there for being Yemeni. It is a truly complicated issue in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Speaking of the UAE, there are many families with Emirati nationality but their origins are Yemeni. These families are exposed to extreme prosecution just for having Yemeni origins, and are looked upon by the security authorities as “guilty until proven otherwise”.

In Saudi Arabia, the same is true for southern cities such as Najran, Jizan and Khamis Mushayt. Most of these families have Yemeni origins and have close relations with Yemeni families. For instance, a family is divided between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and is closely in contact. They live in difficult family circumstances, and no one dares to complain or object, all these practices need international intervention to confront them, because the Saudi and UAE security authorities are not aware of the magnitude of the disaster they are committing.

“The UAE and Saudi authorities provide a fertile environment for inciting hatred against each other because of their hostile policies. Many people in the society follow the system without thinking. They hate the Yemenis and incite hatred against them through social networks, whether they are Yemenis in their countries or abroad,” said John A. de Saint, professor of sociology at Nice University.

“They hate the Iranians and the Internet is full of aversion. Then Turkey, then Qatar and then Oman, hatred is now taking its first steps from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to everywhere. This behavior is dangerous for their own countries, because the feeling of hatred is “contagious” and is now controlled by the Saudi and Emirati systems, which form dilemmas and orient hate abroad,” he added.

“However, they overlook an important aspect: that hatred when it controls the masses’ hearts, it will turn into a behavior, then they will practice it among themselves. Each class will exchange hatred with the other class, and every city and between each sect. The society will become fully prepared for internal conflicts. Europe had suffered from the same situation after the First World War and it intensified after World War II, and it took time to get rid of it,” he confirmed.

“The hatred and persecution of Yemeni workers living in Saudi Arabia and the UAE due to the constant and increasing pressure will make them turn into time bombs that will threaten the society itself. The international community must intervene to stop this and to force the authorities of the UAE and Saudi Arabia to halt the violations committed against Yemeni residents within their lands in order to protect the rights of these residents and also to protect these communities and stop exporting hatred between the countries of the region and the countries of the world.” he concluded.