Euro-Med Monitor At HRC: Yemeni Female Journalists Face Gender-based Harassment And Social Exclusion

Geneva – Female journalists in Yemen face significant challenges as a result of their journalistic work, said Euro-Med Monitor in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council’s 52nd session.

Female journalists in Yemen face harassment, attacks, and other forms of social exclusion based on their gender.

Delivering the statement to the Council, Euro-Med Monitor’s Partnerships and Communications Coordinator Lara Hamidi said that “These journalists are exposed to harsh stigma and slander on social media platforms, such as insults, edited pictures, and threats to the family which serve to embarrass and corner female journalists into abandoning journalism as a career.”

“The majority of press institutions in Yemen resort to hiring male journalists instead of female journalists as the Houthis, that rule 70% of Yemen, released a decree banning women’s movement without a male escort in 2022,” Hamidi added.

Hamidi noted that one out of every ten journalists arrested in Yemen is a woman, with women constituting only 11% of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate. Women are additionally unable to obtain work permits, further impeding Yemen’s press industry as a whole.

“Since the conflict in 2014 erupted, numerous media outlets have been shut down in the Houthi-held areas, with tightening grip on those female journalists that are still devoted to telling the truth regardless of the consequences, often risking their livelihoods and their families’ safety,” the statement emphasised.

The Human Rights Council and its member states must address the institutional restrictions and societal harassment faced by female journalists in Yemen in comparison to their male counterparts.

Full statement

Mr President,

Euro-Med Monitor and Youth Parliament for SDG would like to bring to the council’s attention the harassment, assault and social exclusion that female journalists in Yemen experience on top of the hardships they face on a daily basis.

According to interviews conducted by Euro-Med Monitor one out of every 10 journalists arrested in Yemen is a woman, in a country where women only make up 11% of the journalists’ syndicate. These journalists are exposed to harsh stigma and slander on social media platforms, such as insults, edited pictures and threats to the family which serve to embarrass and corner female journalists into abandoning journalism as a career.

The majority of press institutions in Yemen resort to hiring male journalists instead of female journalists as the Houthis, which rule 70% of Yemen, released a decree banning women’s movement without a male escort in 2022. As a result, women are also unable to obtain feasible work permits, further hindering the press industry in its entirety in Yemen.

Since the conflict in 2014 erupted, numerous media outlets have been shut down in the Houthi-held areas, with a tightening grip on those female journalists that are still devoted to telling the truth regardless of the consequences, often risking their livelihoods and their families’ safety.

Institutional restrictions and societal harassment that female journalists face in comparison to their male counterparts in Yemen should be addressed with deep concern by the international community and the human rights council present today. Female journalists should not be made to feel any less because they are women.

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