Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights

Cases
Location of case in SG report
2010-048-002
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2010
Country Geolocation

Latitude: 15.552727

Longitude: 48.516388

Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
Yemen
From Region
UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
  • UN Treaty Bodies: CAT
  • UN Special Procedures: Thematic
Dates of prior UN action
2 December 2009
Type of record
Named organization
Was the victim a foreign national?
No
Was the victim a minor?
No
Individual's/organization's activity

forum is an NGO which monitors and documents cases of torture in Yemen.

Type of rights defended
  • Civil/political rights
Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
No
Reported trigger of reprisal

The Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights also presented a shadow report to the Committee against Torture at its forty-third session, held from 2 to 20 November 2009, which had been prepared in collaboration with 13 other Yemeni human rights organizations.

Engagement with UN body
  • UN Treaty Bodies: CAT
  • UN Human Rights Council: UPR
Dates of engagement
24 September 2009; 2 to 20 November 2009
Type of attempted engagement
  • Participation in meeting on UN premises
  • Submission of information to UN
Dates of mentioned reprisals
22 November 2009
Reprisal information

In the evening of 22 November 2009, the offices of the Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights were broken into by unknown individuals and the premises were searched, materials in the archives were compromised and some electronic equipment was damaged.

Types of reprisals suffered
  • Property damage/raid/search/confiscation
Alleged/likely perpetrators
Unclear
Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
No
Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
No
Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
No
Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
No
Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
No
How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
1
In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
2011
Follow up information provided in SG report 0
  1. With regard to the case of Amal Basha, the Chairperson of the non-governmental organization Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights referred to in my previous report,40 the Committee against Torture, in its concluding observations on Yemen,41 expressed its serious concern at information of threats against, and intimidation and harassment of, members of the organization, which had coordinated an alternative joint submission to the Committee and also briefed the latter during its session. The Committee was also concerned that such threats and intimidation might be related to the peaceful activities of the organization in promoting and protecting human rights, and in particular with monitoring and documenting cases of torture. The Committee deeply regretted the fact that the State party had not replied to the letter sent by the Committee Chairperson on 3 December 2009, in which the attention of the State party was drawn to this issue. The Committee then reiterated its request to the State party, as a matter of urgency, to provide information on the measures taken to implement, especially with regard to members of the Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights, articles 12, 13 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and paragraph 20 of the Committee’s final concluding observations.92. At the time of completion of the present report, no reply had been received from the Government of Yemen.
Followup Trends 0
No substantive information provided by SG report
Did the government respond? 0
No
Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
  • UN Treaty Bodies: CAT