“We are just marginalized people (Akhdam), and we have no right to deal with the tribal people. Thank God, we rarely get sick,” Bahia Muthanna responded in a sad and sarcastic tone about their admission to medical facilities and hospitals and their level of access to health care without discrimination.
Bahia told Khuyut that some public employees refuse to cooperate with the marginalized group or deal with them fairly, because they are poor, as well as marginalized, whether to access government hospitals or other public facilities. This is something that bothers them, regardless of the fact that there are educated individuals and religious people among the marginalized who are trying to integrate into the surrounding society.
Marginalized people in Yemen suffer from discrimination and racism because of their dark skin. They live in isolated gatherings on the outskirts of cities and neighborhoods, in small homes made of tin and huts, or in simple personal buildings with more than three or four families crowded inside.
Attempts to socially integrate the marginalized have succeeded in the past times in some areas of Yemen, where social relationships such as marriage have developed between them and the rest of the community. However, this was limited integration while discrimination remains prevalent in dealing with them.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for the Manpower Sector in the internationally recognized government, Ahmed Al-Mekhlafi, said in a statement to Khuyut that the reason behind the failure to integrate them is due to the lack of hesitation of some members of this group in declaring actions that society considers against its values, culture, and even religion. In addition, this group’s lack of keenness on personal hygiene, as this is an inherent psychology in their personality which caused social avoidance against them. Despite this, Al-Mikhlafi pointed out that their immunity against illness is strong, because they have overcome extreme caution and fear of contracting diseases.
According to the last population census in Yemen conducted in 2004, the percentage of marginalized people in the country was about 12% of the total population, while social studies and research centers estimate that the percentage is 1.6% to 2.6% of the total population of Yemen. The numbers are likely to be larger than the available outdated figures and data, due to the fact that census data are not updated and the difficulty of counting them under the current circumstances of the country.
Allocating some medical facilities to the marginalized, or providing health care to them by some humanitarian organizations and opening free accounts in some hospitals may help alleviate their suffering from some diseases, especially chronic ones.
Despite their ever-increasing number, they are marginalized in various areas of life, including health care, hospitals, and medical facilities. Mostly, they only visit these facilities to do cleaning work, for very low wages, while they do not receive medicines or medical care when they resort to treatment for diseases and epidemics that kill them.
The head of the National Union of the Marginalized in Yemen, Noman Al-Hudhaifi, confirmed to “Khuyut” that many marginalized patients who go to hospitals are treated with a kind of inferiority, considering that this leads to depriving this group of health care services, which comes within the context of racial discrimination practiced against marginalized people in Yemen.
Between Discrimination and Negligence
“Khuyut” surveyed the opinions of a number of health workers, and concluded that many of them confirmed that they had not encountered a marginalized person visiting them in their workplace to conduct health checks or follow-up, etc., and if they did, these were very few cases, especially in the private sector.
Doctor Mohammad Abdul-Ilah told Khuyut that the “marginalized” are Yemeni citizens who are characterized by extreme simplicity and must be treated equally without discrimination, including in medical and health facilities.
He also explained that there are those who deal with the poor, whether they are marginalized or not, with disinterest, but his behavior represents him only, noting that he saw some health workers dealing with contempt and laziness with the marginalized, which is confirmed by some of the marginalized who spoke to “Khuyut” and confirmed that there is negligence and slackness in dealing with them that reaches to segregation.
The Muhamasheen are among the poorest groups in Yemen, and they often go to government hospitals in the event of severe illness, due to the ease of obtaining services at a low cost compared to private hospitals. They often receive treatment from pharmacies workers, because it does not cost them much, in addition to some pharmacists cooperating with them, and giving them medicines at a nominal price or for free, as stated by Abdullah Muthanna to Khuyut: "Many of us also receive donations from some benefactors of the residents close to our residence where we live. We go to them and they give us some money to buy medicines from pharmacies. They also cooperate with us by providing our food on a daily basis."
In this context, Mohammad Al-Hakimi, one of the workers in the vaccination teams, noted that the marginalized are a target group in their gathering places, and they are very keen to take the necessary vaccines so they come as soon as they hear about the arrival of the vaccination teams. Al-Hakami indicated in his interview with Khuyut that this is due to their fear of being excluded, and the failure of medical teams to provide them with the necessary vaccines.
Epidemics scare them the most
Many studies have concluded that the marginalized have a solid body immune system. They work in difficult professions, such as sanitation and cleaning, whether in the streets or in offices and various entities. Despite this, they are rarely infected with the serious diseases that such professions can cause to them.
It seems that the failure of many of them to adhere to personal hygiene has helped them strengthen their immunity. A Canadian study confirmed that excessive attention to a child’s hygiene leads to a weakening of his immune system. They noted that children who live in poor areas are less susceptible to diseases, because their bodies have adapted to the environment surrounded by pollution around them.
However, this does not prevent them from contracting many serious diseases, as Dr. Ahlam Ismael - who works in the field of laboratories - confirmed that the marginalized do not often come for medical examinations, except when there is an outbreak of some epidemics in their communities, such as cholera, or some infectious skin diseases, where they rush to take appropriate medical treatments.
Dr. Ahlam suggests that a medical facility be allocated, or that charitable organizations provide health care for them or open free accounts in some hospitals, which may help alleviate their suffering from some diseases, especially chronic ones. Noting that the widespread illiteracy among them makes epidemics easy to spread among them due to their failure to adhere to the necessary health procedures.
She added that marginalized children, because of their begging in the streets, suffer from accidents, and some of their parents follow up with the person who caused the accident to complete their child’s treatment, while others easily give up on that, or agree to receive small amounts of money as compensation but do not treat their child, who may develop serious health complications.
In this regard, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor pointed out that most marginalized people refrain from educating their children, because they are an important source of income for the family that depends on them for begging.
Al-Mikhlafi further explained that this group coexisted with the situation that society imposed on it in the beginning, and made it a mechanism “a means” to defend its practice and existence, and justify all the actions it undertakes.
It is worth noting that most women in the Muhamasheen community refuse to take birth control methods, which is why women get pregnant and give birth repeatedly under unsuitable health conditions. Many marginalized women claim that no preventive means suit them, which is why most mothers give birth to a large number of children, in addition to the spread of early marriage among them. Within minimum limits, some marginalized people who were affected by war and displacement, like much of the population, began to resort to birth control methods.
Absence of state agencies
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is one of the oldest major human rights agreements, and Yemen is one of the 186 states party to it in October 2010. At the same time, one of the goals of the September 26, 1962 Revolution is to eliminate differences and privileges between social classes.
The activist Hoda Al-Sarari, who won the Martin Ennals Award, which is given to human rights defenders, confirmed in a statement to Khuyut that discrimination against a certain group of society emerges when the state’s tools, which include institutions, legislation, community awareness, and a fair media message, are absent in addition to the role of civil society organs in advocating issues of discrimination, rights and freedoms in a way that raises public awareness.
It is undeniable that in the recent years, in light of the armed conflict and political division, manifestations of discrimination have increased, and an indicator of violations against vulnerable groups in general has emerged, including the marginalized as a result of the absence of the rules of laws, the poor level of awareness, economic deterioration and poverty, and the nonexistence of the state agencies.
According to Al-Sarari, the Houthi group exploited the marginalized group and forced them into the fighting fronts, calling them the grandchildren of Bilal, a term that reinforces the inferiority and class view towards them. Moreover, our Islamic religion and the Prophetic hadiths stipulate that Muslims are brothers and there is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab except through devoutness.
Further, incidents of human rights violations were also committed against the marginalized group in areas controlled by the Houthis and the internationally recognized government, according to Al-Sarari, such as the destruction of their homes and the displacement of a number of them from their areas of residence, as happened in the city of Aden. In addition, they are misused to commit illegal acts or human trafficking, which has reinforced society’s view of inferiority towards these groups in view of the absence of the state and community awareness. Accordingly, this has contributed to their exclusion, lack of integration into society, and limited access to education and public services.
Furthermore, it shall be referred to the issue of discrimination against marginalized people in Yemen for social reasons related to customs, traditions, and cultural heritage, especially in areas characterized by a tribal character, according to Al-Sarari, unlike the situation in the past. In South Yemen before 1990, the state was very keen on the compulsory integration of the marginalized, and their equality with citizens through fairness in the application of the law, and compulsory education and services that the citizen receives. Thus, the state is the one who has the powers to allocate some essential services free of charge, and therefore it was not limited to a specific segment of society and everyone is entitled to receive these services without prejudice.
It is noteworthy that in recent years, the names of a number of marginalized people have emerged, especially those who resorted to education and obtained university degrees, and tried to put pressure on the government, which they accuse of discriminating against them in public posts and appointments, in an attempt to make their voices heard and demand their rights through various social media platforms.
