Dear friends and all honorable attendants, We meet today again to discuss and exchange views on issues of civil society and women’s leadership in the Arab world,

and to reaffirm our aspirations to build a new world blessed with civil values, human rights and equality, peace, security, sense of responsibility and freedom, a world where life opportunities are available to everyone, barriers are removed and bridges with each other are built. 

We meet today to relook ahead under growing democratic reversal across the world and a setback in global trends that support the modern value system that prevailed in international trends from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War. We meet today to talk about civil society and women’s participation in the community leadership at a time when chauvinistic movements are coming back to the fore, like the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Houthi militias in Yemen. Both movements have come back from the dark ages to have a place in the online era of the twenty-first century.

Unfortunately, our world today does not hesitate to recognize extremist militias that practice violence, declare wars on own societies, use cruelty and oppression as means to rule, see in women a shame, enslave people, criminalize art, antagonize freedoms and crack down on rights. On the other hand, this same world, along with its global order and major powers, is hostile to the Arab Spring and to the aspirations of peoples who have revolted for freedom, dignity, human rights and democracy.

Today's world, which sees the Taliban as a fait accompli, had dealt with our peaceful civilized revolutions as an unforgivable crime! Today’s world, which is ready to negotiate with a theocratic terrorist state like Iran and turn a blind eye to its sectarian affiliated militias that have destroyed Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon, yesterday looked at the democratic transformations heralded by the Arab Spring as a great threat to the international interests associated with tyrannical regimes.

The world has abandoned us and allowed the region’s anti-democratic axes, Iran and Saudi Arabia, declare a vengeful war on our societies for nothing but because we wanted to live just like the rest of the world. We revolted peacefully for the sake of dignity, the rule of law, civil society, equality and human rights. Let us say that our world is dominated by a global order that is in crisis and is no longer viable, which means it is time to change it.

My reference to the global order here is due to the apparent increasing denial of the values of democracy and human rights. How does the world and its major powers look today at a regime like the Assad regime in Syria? How come that the civilized western democratic world accepts the reintegration of such a criminal sectarian regime that has killed a million Syrians, displaced five million and brought Iran and its militias, together with Russia, to home to help him killing his own people?

By the way, is there any difference between Milosevic and Bashar al-Assad, or between those responsible for genocides and our region’s regimes that are much more cruel and criminal?! What remains today of the slogans of western democracies, especially in Europe and America, after long decades of raising democracy, freedom and human rights as titles of their policies??

 

Our world has become less free and democratic, and civil society is constantly shrinking. Not only that, women’s achievements during the past thirty years become at stake, especially due to raging counter-revolutions hostile to the Arab Spring. Civil society, women's leadership and participation, equality and democracy were an essential part of the change agenda in Arab countries, but they have been let down and met with local and regional wars.

 

A renewed focus on civil society and women's participation today takes on new meanings, which leads to restoring the image of the Arab revolutions of change instead of the dead margins of pre-2011, when the regimes contained international efforts directed to civil society and turned them into make-up to cover their tyranny. Should we accept the issues of civil society and women's rights to be used as decoration for the faces of regimes that have broken records in their wars against the Arab Spring revolutionaries!!?

Will the world remain silent about undermining the peaceful revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen, thus returning to the same mechanisms of pre-Arab Spring years? In those years, the talk about civil society and women's participation was a routine function of international and local organizations that used to hold seminars in hotels and ended up taking pictures.

Those activities remained isolated within limited scope and did not expand to wider groups of our societies yearning for change, democracy and the modern state gains related to respect of rights, freedoms and gender equality. The Arab Spring revolutions at the beginning of the last decade took place as a result of the people's dream of civil society, human rights, the rule of law and gender equality.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will realize that every tittle presented today globally regarding these issues brings us back to the Arab Spring. Any attempt to ignore the fact of the Arab Spring is nothing but normalization with hands stained with the blood of young men and women who were symbols of aspirations towards civil society, equality and human rights.

We will lose our self-confidence and faith in our cause if we keep insisting on hollowing out the concepts of civil society and women’s participation and accepting to transform them into a mere festive ritual in hotel halls isolated from the revolutions and social movement in our societies and from the subsequent conflicts, wars and confrontations led by the forces of tyranny, their affiliated militias and the regional axes hostile to freedom and democracy against the advocates of change.

Our experience during the past decade inspires us to claim that there can be no freedom for women without freedom for the whole society. The role of women in society is negatively and positively affected by the gains and setbacks subject to the society itself, as evidenced by the events and the history with all its revolutions, changes and stations. Hence, the role of women in change must be at the forefront of women’s efforts to free themselves from grievances, exclusion, oppression and discrimination.

The work to strengthen civil society, women's participation, and the presence of women leaders in the Arab world takes place on two levels: by standing up to counter-revolutionary wars and coups against the wave of change and by working to spread civic values, support movements and organizations that defend women's issues and rights and combat violations against women in war zones and within authoritarian countries.

In conjunction with the return of coups and the rise of extremist militias in hotbeds of war, our countries are going through a state of retrogression. Both sides, the putschists and militias, hold positions hostile to democracy, rights, freedoms, and the participation of women in the public sphere. In fact, support for democratic transformations is the safe way to establish real stability that embodies the contents of social peace within countries.

Women will not have their rightful place inside our societies without the entire society being liberated from tyrannical regimes and extremist religious militias. The struggle of feminist movements for participation, equality and the promotion of civil society values in our countries should proceed from a broad perspective of women’s role and civil society issues. 

Women have had a proven track record and wide networks of feminist and civic organizations and prominent female personalities in various fields and from around the world. Today, women’s presence has become tangible and influential in their countries and worldwide.

My country, Yemen, though part of this world, is facing terrible tragedies due to a fascist war. After six years of war, Yemen remains the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, standing alone and without any real support. The United Nations and major powers have failed to help Yemen stop the war and restore its State, and the world has done nothing to stop genocides against Yemenis.

The major powers turn a blind eye to Iran and its support for the Houthi militias, while at the same time siding with their interests with Saudi Arabia and the UAE at the expense of Yemen. Turning a blind eye to the crimes and violations of the regional parties in Yemen is nothing but betrayal and tacit support for warlords at home and for Iran, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi responsible for bloodshed in Yemen.

The failure and inability of the international community to activate its collective mechanisms to stop war and economic collapse and help Yemenis restore their national state have contributed to the continuation of war and chaos and the growing humanitarian crisis. For seventh years, our people has been facing an all-out war of revenge, a fierce war that represents a new pattern of undermining the life foundations of the entire population. The state collapsed and sectarian Houthi militias overran the capital and cities.

In light of the non-payment of salaries and the collapse of the health and service system, the Houthi militias have taken control of international aid. These militias have tampered with the content of curricula in areas under their control by imposing a extremist sectarian content, prohibited singing, took arbitrary measures against women, and imposed a puritanical vision that abuses women, not unlike what the Taliban has done in Afghanistan.

For their part, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have bombed our cities and infrastructure, established militias loyal to them in the city of Aden, prevented the legitimate government from operating from within the country and taken control of key ports, oil-gas facilities and strategic islands like Socotra and Perim. Millions of Yemenis are at risk of starvation, suffering from poor living conditions, war, chaos, non-payment of salaries and wages, total absence of basic public services and rapidly deteriorating local currency.

We call on the world to stop this brutal war against our Yemeni people. We call on the world to support our people to restore their state and complete the transitional period in accordance with the three references represented by UNSC resolutions on Yemen, the agreement on transfer of power and the outcomes of the national dialogue. We call on the world to impose restrictions on warlords and militia leaders and not to deal with them as political parties. We call upon the world to respect the right of our people to life and put an end to a fascist war whose main parties are Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their affiliated militias. 

 

Finally, may thank to all of you, and through you, to all those struggling for humanity and for a better world blessed with the values of justice, equality, freedom, democracy and human rights.