A/HRC/27/44
III. Situation of human rights and implementation of
recommendations of OHCHR
A.
Accountability and transitional justice
20.
Delays in addressing the issue of accountability continued to hamper progress in
redress for serious human rights violations committed in 2011. During the reporting period,
there were persistent demands to bring perpetrators from all sides to justice and to provide
redress for victims and their families. Concerns over the credibility of judicial
investigations into human rights violations, committed in the wake of the unrest in 2011,
have been highlighted in the High Commissioner’s previous reports.4 The High
Commissioner recommended that the Government of Yemen launch transparent and
independent investigations, compliant with international standards, into any allegations of
serious human rights violations committed by government security forces during the events
of 2011.5 In September 2012, a presidential decree was passed establishing a commission to
investigate allegations of human rights violations that occurred in 2011. However, no
commissioners had been appointed as of 1 July 2014.
21.
Little progress was recorded with regard to the draft Law on Transitional Justice and
National Reconciliation. As mentioned in the previous report, President Hadi submitted a
draft transitional justice law to the Parliament in January 2013. In April 2014, the Ministry
of Legal Affairs recalled the draft and revised it in order to align it with the outcomes of the
National Dialogue Conference. In cooperation with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), in May 2014 OHCHR organized a national consultation involving
approximately 300 participants to discuss the revised version of the law. Based on the
consultation, concrete recommendations were provided to the Ministry, which, in May
2014, submitted the new draft to the Cabinet for further consideration.
22.
The Commission to Consider and Address Land Issues and the Commission on
Forcibly Dismissed Employees for southern Yemen were established in January 2013 as
confidence-building measures to address the root causes of southern grievances. The Land
Commission, consisting of five judges, started its work on 10 March 2013 and has
established seven field offices across south Yemen. It has so far received more than
100,000 claims from individuals maintaining that their lands were illegally confiscated by
the northern Government following the 1994 war. At the time of reporting none of the
claims filed with the Land Commission had been resolved. The Dismissals Commission,
which consists of five judges and four military officers, started its work on 13 March 2013
and until May 2014, had received approximately 93,000 applications.6
23.
Both the Land and the Dismissals Commissions suffer chronic challenges relating to
insufficient staffing, inadequate resources and weak administrative and management
structures. The establishment of the two Commissions, and the amount of cases received,
saw increased demand for reparations and compensation by the claimants. On the basis of
the cases received, the two Commissions made recommendations to the President. These
were adopted, but they have not been implemented.
4
5
6
A/HRC/21/37 and A/HRC/24/34.
A/HRC/21/37, para. 67 (a), and A/HRC/24/34, para. 55 (e).
According to information received from the Commission, 56,789 claims were received from former
military personnel, 28,000 from former civil employees and 18,000 from the security sector.
7
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