by Jean Sasson
The Yemen Times reports that more than “one million people have been displaced across all governorates in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition started their campaign on March 26, 2015, with more than 500,000 of the newly displaced people coming from the provinces of Al-Dalea, Ibb, and Hajjah.
Most Yemenis have been forced to flee their city, or their homes due to the war. Many families are seeking shelter with other families, meaning that small homes are sheltering four or five families under one roof. When the conflict becomes intense in one area, people will flee to another area. There has also been a tragic loss of many historical sites.
The mayor of Hadramawt has reported that approximately 39,000 refugees have arrived in his governorate. There is true concern about health issues as dengue fever is spreading.
It’s estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 injured. Nearly 50,000 people have fled the country, and at least 10,000 refugees are living in a coastal camp in Djibouti. Others are fleeing the country by boat.
Um Fahd, one of the former residents in the Mualla district in Aden reported to the Yemen Times: “We are living in the time of funerals, we lost three of our neighbors in Mualla and my aunt’s husband got shot in Khormaksar.”
Another Yemeni civilian, Adnan al-Qasus, reported: “My mother’s cousin Shawqy Abdulqader passed away this morning, their house fell on top of their heads, we can’t even imagine what they went through, he was a good man never held a gun.”
Every Yemeni has a story, and most are tragic.
With the crisis building, two courageous women continue their fight for their people, and their country. Neither Italia nor Fiery have fled their country. The two women lived in Italia’s boat and worked from there until it was accidentally shelled by some local fighters. They were sad to see the boat sink, but then shrugged off the loss and moved back into the old city of Sana where they both claim to be happier. They are too busy to worry about their own safety, as they rise early in the mornings and look for supplies and food to purchase so that they can distribute to those in greatest need in their neighborhood, and beyond.
Italia has made several exciting trips back to her old village and each time takes supplies. Once she had to travel with a donkey and a cart, but she said it brought back memories of the days of youth when her parents traveled in the same manner.
Fiery is no longer working as a professor, but instead assists Italia with her charity work.
Both women scorn any talk of danger, saying that only Allah knows when they will leave this earth.
And Yemen is a better place because of these two women.
Syria: Time Line, 2011–2015
March 22, 2011 Protestors in Deraa, Syria, demand the release of political prisoners. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces shoot and kill the protestors. The protest prompts violent demonstrations that spread across the entire country.
April 16, 2011 President al-Assad broadcasts peacemaking measures, freeing dozens of political prisoners, discharging government and finally, lifting a forty-eight-year-old state of emergency.
May 2011 Ongoing anti-regime protests continue in Homes, Deraa, Banyas, and some suburbs of Damascus. Syrian tanks try to crush protesters. The United States and the European Union tighten sanctions.
May 31, 2011 President al-Assad announces amnesty for political prisoners.
July 2, 2011 After mass demonstrations in the province of Hama, President al-Assad fires the governor. When protests continue, Syrian troops go in to restore order and many Syrian civilians are killed.
October 2011 The Syrian National Council announces that it has formed a communal group of internal and exiled opposition activists to seek peace.
November 12, 2011 The Arab League suspends Syria and imposes sanctions.
The uprising against the al-Assad government is now recognized as a full-scale civil war
December 23, 2011 Bombs outside security buildings in Damascus kill forty-four. These blasts are the first of many to come in the capital of Syria.
February 9, 2012 The Syrian government increases the bombardment of Homs.
March 21, 2012 The U.N. Security Council endorses a nonbinding peace agreement drafted by the U.N. envoy Kofi Annan.
May 29, 2012 Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada, and Spain all expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest after more than a hundred civilians are killed in Houla, near Homs.
June 2012 President Obama warns Syria that if they use chemical weapons, that the United States will consider intervention in the ongoing war.
July 18, 2012 The Free Syria Army kills three security chiefs in Damascus. The also seize the city of Aleppo.
August 6, 2012 Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab defects from the government to join the revolution.
December 11, 2012 The United Kingdom, the United States, France, Turkey, and the Gulf States formally recognize the opposition National Coalition as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.
January 30, 2013 International donors pledge $1.5 billion to help Syrian civilians affected by the conflict.
January 31, 2013 Syria claims that Israeli jets have attacked a military research center near Damascus.
March 2013 After Syrian rebels seize control of the city of Raqqa, the city is bombed by
the Syrian government military planes.
June 5, 2013 The Syrian government, joined by the Lebanese Hezbollah forces recapture the strategic city of Qusair located between Homs and Lebanese border.
August 28, 2013 The Syrian government denies all allegations of chemical weapons use.
October 6, 2013 President al-Assad surprises the world when he agrees for international inspectors to start destroying Syria’s chemical weapons, which was previously agreed upon between the United States and Russia.
December 2013 Great Britain and the United States break off “nonlethal” support for Syrian rebels in northern Syria after it is learned that Islamist rebels have seized bases of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.
February 15, 2014 When Syrian authorities refuse to discuss the option of a transitional government, the U.N. peace talks in Geneva collapse.
March 16, 2014 The Syrian Army and Hezbollah forces recapture Yabroud, which is the last rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border.
May 2014 Hundreds of rebels fighting the Syrian government/military are remove from their last stronghold in the city of Homs. This disappointing withdrawal ends three years of resistance in the city.
June 23, 2014 The United Nations announces that all of Syria’s chemical weapons have been destroyed or removed.
June 29, 2014 ISIS militants announce that they have formed a “caliphate” that stretches from the Syrian city of Aleppo to the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
August 24, 2014 After its captures the Tabqa air base, which is near the northern city of Raqqa, ISIS now controls the all of Raqqa province.
September 23, 2014 Five Arab countries join the United States in launching air strikes against ISIS located near Raqqa and Aleppo.
January 26, 2015 After a four-month battle, Kurdish fighters defeat ISIS, pushing them from the city of Kobani, which is located on the Turkish border.
May 21, 2015 ISIS fighters seize the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria and they proclaim that they will destroy the pre-Islamic World Heritage site.
May 29, 2015 Kurdish fighters intensify the fighting against ISIS in a region between the Turkish border and Raqqa.
June, 2015: Kurdish fighters intensify fighting against the Islamic State between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa. The Kurds overtake the border town of Tal Abyad.
September, 2015: The media reports that Russian armed supplies are arriving on the Syrian coastal regions. Russia quickly pledges continued military support for Assad’s government.
Beheadings of Hostages by ISIS
July 25, 2014: 75 Syrian soldiers from a captured army base.
August 19, 20
14: James Wright Foley, American journalist
August 28, 2014: Ali al-Sayyed, Lebanese army sergeant
September 2, 2014: Steven Joel Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist
September 13, 2014: David Haines, British aid worker
September, 2014: Abbas Medlej, Lebanese soldier
September, 2014: Unidentified Kurdish soldier
September 20, 2014: Fifteen family members of local police officers in Afghanistan
September 24, 2014: Hervé Gourdel, French hiker
October 1, 2014: Five Kurdish fighters, four Syrian men, and one male Kurdish civilian, in Kobani, Syria
October 3, 2014: Alan Henning, British aid worker
October 11, 2014: Raad al-Azzawi, Iraqi cameraman
November 16, 2014: Peter Edward Kassig, American aid worker
November 16, 2014: Sixteen Syrian soldiers
December 12, 2014: Four Iraqi Christian children for refusing to convert to Islam
January 25, 2015: Haruna Yukawa, Japanese businessman
January 25, 2015: Hujam Surchi, Kurdish Peshmerga officer
January 30, 2015: Kenji Goto, Japanese journalist
February 12, 2015: Twenty-one Coptic Egyptians
April 19, 2015: 28 Ethiopian Christians
Violence against Women in Pakistan
In Pakistan, violence against women is linked to the history of women being submissive to men. In Pakistan, the society sees women as the personal property of men. Many men believe that they have the right to control women, and to make all their decisions.
In some rural areas, women are not even considered to be human beings, but instead, they are used as personal property and can be bartered to settle debts, or even to negotiate as property to resolve family conflicts.
Pakistan’s laws on rape too often treat the sexual assault of women as the theft of a man’s property. Professor Shahla Haeri, a women’s studies professor, has said that rape in Pakistan is “often institutionalized and has the tacit and at times the explicit approval of the state.” Human Right Watch has written that in Pakistan, “there is a rape every two hours, and a gang rape every eight hours.” Women in custody of the police are even raped. Asma Jahangir, a lawyer and cofounder of the women’s rights group Women’s Action Forum, reported that in a 1988 study of detainees in Punjab, that “72 percent of the women arrested said that they had been sexually abused while in custody.” These are outrages against the women of Pakistan.
Many men in rural areas think of women as nothing more than servants for doing their command.
In Pakistani society, it is not considered wrong for a father to beat his daughter, or a brother to beat his sister, or a husband to beat his wife. These beatings often occur due to very minor issues, such as burning a meal, or leaving the home to visit family without permission, or even for being late coming home from school.
Most Pakistani women are dependent on the male members of their family. The man takes care of their needs, and they, in turn obey the man. Only women who have economic independence push for equality in a marriage. The only women who have some freedom of choice are women who are educated and economically independent, and even then, there are sometimes problems and the women have to fight for gender equality. In Pakistan, girls are reared to be obedient and docile. In rural areas, particularly, girls are led to believe that their role in life is to serve men.
Since childhood, girls’ movements are restricted. A female is controlled so that she will not do anything to dishonor the family. This linking of females with male honor is a major issue that creates many crimes against women. While men have no limitations, many young girls are not allowed to play outside the home, and grown women are not allowed to go outside the home.
Pakistani women are often victims of many forms of violence. The most dangerous place for a Pakistani woman is in her home. That is where she often endures domestic abuse, having acid thrown on them by family members, being burned alive by their husbands, and many other forms of ritual honor killings.
Despite the high level of family violence against women, the judiciary considers family violence a “family matter” and tries to avoid involvement.
Young girls do not escape this violence. Forced marriages are still common, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, girls and women are used to settle debts or even conflicts between families.
Tribal leaders have organized a parallel judicial system and these councils are often promoters of honor killings.
Religious scholars are also against the rights of women. These men of religion appear to detest women who demand rights. The scholars say that such women are following the agenda of the “West,” which is to secularize the Islamic society of Pakistan. A woman who struggles against gender discrimination, is a woman who is against Islam. These men band together to oppose any new laws that might increase freedom for women.
Pakistan is a country of approximately 185 million. No one knows for certain the literacy rate in Pakistan, as there are conflicting reports. In Pakistan, the definition of a person considered literate is someone who has the simple ability to write his or her name. While girls in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, or other large cities generally goes to school, this is not the case in rural areas.
The Pakistani judiciary’s actions make it clear that the people in charge protect the patriarchal structure of Pakistani society.
All of these factions come together to mean that if a man is turned down for a marriage proposal, or a husband is unhappy with his wife, he can feel relatively safe to do anything he wishes to any woman, and he will not be punished. And, that is why the horrific habit of acid throwing men goes unabated. Women and girls are left to suffer the consequences of a society who refuses to punish men who disfigure or even murder women.
About the Author
Jean Sasson has traveled widely in the Middle East since 1978, living as a resident in Saudi Arabia for twelve of those years. She has spent much of her career as a writer and lecturer sharing the personal stories of courageous Middle Eastern women. Her book, Princess: The True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, became a classic, an international bestseller and formed the basis of a compelling series. Princess: Secrets to Share is Jean’s thirteenth book. She has plans to write her own memoir, as well as several other books about courageous women of the world. She currently makes her home in Atlanta, Georgia.
Also By Jean Sasson
Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
Princess Sultana’s Daughters
Princess Sultana’s Circle
Princess, More Tears to Cry
Mayada, Daughter of Iraq
Love in a Torn Land
Growing up Bin Laden
American Chick in Saudi Arabia
Yasmeena's Choicea
Excerpt from Princess, More Tears to Cry
For the Love of Daughters
“Surely it must be death!” one of our Indonesian maids breathlessly called out from the butler’s galley.
I froze in place listening to the sounds of high-pitched female voices resonating from our main family sitting room. I shivered in dismay when I recognized the heated voices as belonging to my two daughters, Maha and Amani. My easy stroll turned into a speedy gait as I moved rapidly to find them.
What were my girls fighting about now?
My oldest daughter Maha has claimed Europe as her home for the past seven years, returning to Saudi Arabia for annual visits only. Although Kareem and I often visit Maha, Amani had not seen her sister in more than a year. Yet even after a long absence from the other, from the moment Maha returned, my girls became instantly enthusiastic with their verbal sparring, returning once more to their repetitive arguments, disputing nearly every aspect of daily life for women in Saudi Arabia, something they have done since their teenage years.
Only a moment was needed for me to understand that their current fight revolved around the lack of Saudi females’ right to drive automobil
es, a topic that fuels many heated conversations in my country, and abroad.
Maha’s voice was filled with contempt as she told her sister, “Amani, you should join the protests and drive! Otherwise, my little sister, you can go only as far as your feet can take you, and not one step further!”
Amani returned her sister’s hateful glare but said nothing.
Longing for a response, Maha reminded Amani that all Saudi girls are not wealthy. “You are selfish, my sister. You know that very few Saudi women have full-time drivers. What do those women do when they need transportation to university or to go shopping? How should they get to their destinations? If they do not have access to a hired driver, or are not brave enough to take a bus or taxi, they will have to use their two feet to take them where they need to go!”
Knowing my daughters as I do, I knew that their angry spiral of accusations would expand, and I was right.
I had little time to ponder before Amani bounded into action, her face flashing dark red with anger as she leapt like a desert gazelle toward her elder sister. If I had not been in attendance, my two adult daughters would have certainly exchanged blows, possibly grappling to the floor to physically fight as they had once done as children.
I seized Maha by her upper arm and pulled with all my strength. As it was, Maha tumbled into me, as Amani stumbled and collided with Kareem, my husband, who had entered the sitting room in pursuit of the explosion of female cries.
My darling husband is a long-suffering father. Our daughters’ continual battles exhaust him. Prior to this latest visit, Kareem had announced that he would no longer tolerate Maha and Amani conducting themselves as children. After all, both daughters are grown women. Amani was now a married woman and mother, while Maha lives as a single adult in one of Europe’s major cities. Maha was working as an executive in one of her father’s businesses, enjoying a normal social life with her friends. Time and again, Maha has demonstrated her ability to easily manage most adult situations, but her maturity forsakes her when she is with her younger sister.