The dark-skinned 'Muhamasheen' people (the Arabic term for marginalized) in Abyan governorate, southern Yemen, live in independent communities, but the largest number live in the al-Tumaisi neighborhood, located in the north of the governorate, and also in the “Al-Qurna’a” camp, located in the Al-Koud area, west of Abyan, as it is difficult for most of them to integrate into society and live in any other area due to the racial discrimination that society imposes on them.
The life of this marginalized group is not free of tragedies, which have been multiplied by the war for which Yemenis in general suffer the consequences. However, the impact of tragedies was more severe and violent for those people, especially since they live in a constantly unstable situation. So how will their situation be when the country is mired in war and conflict that has burdened everyone, including employees?
The Muhamasheen children and girls are the most affected by the tragic situation that has resulted in their conditions as a result of their marginalization, rejection, and isolation. Many of them, due to the lack of acceptance by others, were forced to drop out of education, in addition to the nature of their troubled lives and their difficult material conditions, which forced many of them to engage in the labor market to help their parents support the family and alleviate the burden of poverty and hunger.
Actually, it is a difficult mission for the Muhamasheen children, especially girls, to go out to work in different occupations and jobs due to the nature of their small bodies. However, the physical stress is not the only thing that exhausts them, as many of these children are subjected to various types of violations, most of which are limited to physical and sexual abuses, which they can only confront by leaving their jobs.
“children and young girls with dark skin in Abyan confirm that they were subjected to sexual exploitation because they had to go out to the labor market to look for a job opportunity to support their families. They face hard suffering and harassment in the event of getting a job, which is often for very low amounts of money.”
There are many cases of different violations against the Muhamasheen in Abyan governorate, but they are all similar in the severity of the tragedy that they live in the same way and on the same scale, where no one pays attention to their issues; everyone may be involved in oppressing them and losing their rights.
Childhood Abuse
There are no statistics showing the percentage of marginalized children engaged in work. However, recent reports issued by human rights and international organizations have shown a huge increase in child labor in Yemen. According to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Yemen is one of the countries with the highest rates of child labor. There are 23% of children between the ages of 5 and 17 working in large garbage areas to collect metals and materials that can be recycled, in addition to working in agriculture and construction services, and a large segment of Yemeni children are begging in the streets.
The 13-year-old girl, referred to here as F.N., was forced by her material and discriminatory circumstances, as a marginalized child, to work in homes as a domestic helper. However, she could not find permanent work in any house that would guarantee her stability, which forced her to work on demand for a day or a few days.
The child, F.N., was brutally sexually abused by a married man and a father of children, who asked her to work in his house to help his sick wife—as he said to her—but she was surprised that the house was empty of its inhabitants, and while she was trying to leave, he pounced on her as an easy prey, without fear of the consequences of his heinous act.
Subsequently, the little girl, F.N., was horribly and brutally thrown on the roadside, completely unconscious. As a result, she was taken to the hospital, where the supervising doctor confirmed her condition—that she had been sexually assaulted completely. Then, based on this report, her father filed a security report against the aggressor, but the matter did not take its course, and the community mediations intervened until the case ended with two hundred thousand riyals as compensation for her pain, which will accompany her for the rest of her life, as she says.
In this context, Azza Issa, the case officer at the Yemeni Women’s Union in Abyan, tells "Khuyut": “Many cases of violations against children, especially the Muhamasheen girls and women, go unheeded. Everyone joins hands in torturing this group and emphasizing that they are not entitled to anything and everything." Further, Issa also emphasizes the increasing cases of violations year after year, amid societal and authoritarian silence towards these issues.
Likewise, Issa believes that the psychological, material, and legal support provided to them by the Yemeni Women’s Union and some civil society organizations is not sufficient, as they need to live normally like the other segments of society, and this is something that requires the cooperation of everyone alike.
The latest statistics of the Yemeni Women's Union branch in Abyan for the year 2022 until June 2023 show an increase in the cases of violations against the marginalized children, as the cases of violations reached 102 cases, distributed between sexual and physical abuse, including 35 cases of rape, 41 cases of sexual harassment, and 26 cases of physical assault.
The Heartbreak and Pain of Suffering Exploitation
In this regard, children and young girls with dark skin in Abyan confirm that they were subjected to sexual exploitation because they had to go out to the labor market to look for a job opportunity to support their families. They face hard suffering and harassment in the event of getting a job, which is often for very low amounts of money.
Here also, one of the victims of these practices explains to “Khuyut”: “Despite the difficulty of the matter for me, I have also not been spared from harassment. Every day I go through a very difficult time in which I try to work attentively to defend myself, as one of those who is in charge of me has always tried to sexually harass me and to harm me physically in the event of defending myself. This happens from time to time, which is very disturbing."
In fact, many Muhamasheen women and men, especially in childhood, have found no justification for attempts to exploit them sexually, other than the fact that they are part of the marginalized group—the group that cannot defend and claim its rights, and even if it could, it would not find someone to respond to them.
The tragedies affect the children of this group, who are deprived of their most basic rights, such as the right to education and the right to a decent life to live equally alongside the rest of the segments of society.
In this context, Amlak Al-Massadi, head of the Massa Hawa Foundation in Abyan, explains the reasons for the violations suffered by the marginalized minors, as they are due to the view of inferiority they suffer from, the marginalization of society for this group, and the disregard of local authorities and civil society organizations for this group, which needs a double effort to integrate them into society and change the perception of others about them.
Al-Masadi believes that society's disregard, including the governorate authorities, for the rights of this group and the failure of judicial authorities to respond to their cases have made them vulnerable to harassment and continuous abuse.
Life is a Nightmare
Actually, there are alarming numbers of victims that have been monitored. However, the bulk of the violations suffered by marginalized children remain invisible and out of sight. So, will those concerned and interested take action to curb these violations? Or will their suffering continue as long as the racial discrimination continues in Yemeni society, alongside the disregard of this group and not accepting them to engage and integrate into society?
Article 133 of Yemeni Law No. 45 of 2002 on the Rights of the Yemeni Child stipulates: "A working child means a child who has reached the age of fourteen; the work of those under that age is prohibited, and it is also prohibited to employ a child in the industrial works before he reaches the age of fifteen.”
Likewise, Article 137 of the same law stipulates that "the working child's daily working hours may not exceed six hours, interspersed with one or more periods of break, so that the child does not work for four consecutive hours without a break, and the break period may not be less than one hour."
The absence of the regime and the lack of the rule of law that criminalizes child labor under the age of fifteen and holds the perpetrators of that crime accountable have made many children vulnerable to violations in all their forms and manifestations and have allowed employers to inflict various types of torture on those small bodies, which need care, attention, and rehabilitation. Meanwhile, children from the Muhamasheen group were left exposed and vulnerable to the most serious and dangerous violations, especially since they are fully aware of society's and authorities' disregard for this group and the failure to take their issues into account, which made the children of this group crushed under the weight of need and marginalization.
