Sawsan and her 11-year-old son, Mohammad, left their house in the Al-Sawad area of Sana'a. When her son threw the waste into the trash barrel, a projectile that was inside the barrel exploded. She did not wake up from that tragedy until a month later, and only then she did learn that she had lost her son, and her left leg as well.
Sawsan (30 years old) did not know that this was the last time she would go out with her son, and that she would never see him again, and that is why she was included in the list of people with disabilities due to the war. What happened to her and her son is a witness to the ugliness of this war which left thousands of innocent civilians who have lost their limbs or have severe disabilities and wounds that time will not erase even after the end of the current conflict in Yemen.
According to a study developed by the Regional Office for People with Disabilities, their percentage in Yemen ranges between 13.5-15% of the total population, with approximately 3 million people. Sawsan says to "Khuyut": My right leg is lonely, I lean on it whenever I want to escape, and I am no longer able to move except with the help of others. She is afraid that she will never be able to walk again, even if she gets a prosthetic leg. She needs rehabilitation in order to adapt to her disability and overcome her pain.
Unrealistic privileges
Speaking to "Khuyut", Daris Al-Baadani, head of the Sana'a-based "Media Center for Persons with Disabilities", says that the legal privileges that people with disabilities receive are many, whether those stipulated in the "Law on the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled" or in the international agreement that Yemen signed and approved it. Among these privileges are exemption from hospitalization fees, exemption from taxes and customs, free education... and others, but - according to Al-Badani - privileges that are not applied in reality.
Sawsan's only sister says that her sister lives in a state of severe sadness and depression, and that she wakes up daily to her screams because of the death of her only son and the complete loss of her left leg. She adds that her family is trying to calm her down to help her adapt, especially after her husband left her and decided to travel to Abyan Governorate to live and work there.
Laws and decisions
Legal Adviser Abdul Rahman Al-Zubaib told Khuyut that there are legal rights for those who lost their limbs in the war, and that the Yemeni constitution, in Article 33, stipulates that “the state, in solidarity with society, guarantees bearing the burdens resulting from natural disasters and public ordeals.” The war raisins are considered among the "public ordeals" that the constitution obliges the state institutions to cover its burdens, and among those burdens are the care of those who have disabilities because of war.
Those around a person with a disability should support him/her and make them feel safe, and help them to access recovery opportunities and enroll them in rehabilitation centers that provide them with psychological support and treatment
He adds that the most important care for people with disabilities is to provide medical care to preserve the life of the injured and to reduce the impacts of the injury, and to give the injured alternative prosthetic limbs for the limbs they lost as a result of the injury. He further noted that the moral and humanitarian duty imposes on society to support the role of state institutions specialized in providing care for people with disabilities.
Moreover, Al-Zubaib confirms that the Yemeni government has established early limb centers, in cooperation with international organizations, foremost of which is the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that these centers perform two tasks:
The rights of those who lost limbs do not stop in providing them with artificial limbs and qualifying them to use them. This category has the right to social welfare and are entitled to permanent financial aid, especially if their injury causes them to be unable to work.
Furthermore, the legal advisor says that just as homes and buildings were damaged by war disasters, the same applies to people, as achieving sustainable peace requires providing the necessary medical care to people with disabilities resulting from the war, reparation and compensation through transitional justice and rehabilitation programs, and guaranteeing them with monthly salaries, "which is one of their legal and humanitarian entitlements, paving the way for the continuation of peace process."
Law enforcement
Fahim Sultan al-Qudsi, a journalist with disability, said in an interview with "Khuyut": The Republic of Yemen has issued many legislative frameworks that guarantee integrated rights for persons with disabilities, which they must obtain, stressing that the "inaction and slowness" in implementing these legislations remain one of the key challenges facing people with disabilities.
Article 6 of Law No. 61 of 1999 stipulates that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, in coordination with educational institutions, prepare curricula and educational aids for centers for the care and rehabilitation of the disabled, provide teachers, technical materials, and Braille script to serve the blind, and provide assistance. Moreover, free medical care, determining the degree of disability and early intervention to reduce it, and coordinating with universities and government colleges to create specialized departments and courses in the field of rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
Free education
Al-Qudsi added: with regard to free education, the "concerned authorities", when developing designs for constructing buildings, opening roads and equipment, urged the removal of all barriers and the provision of guiding means to facilitate the movement of persons with disabilities and ensure their safety. In addition, they shall be granted a 50% discount on the value of travel tickets abroad or inside of the country and facilitating all procedures. Not only that, but all devices and equipment imported for the purposes of caring for persons with disabilities are tax exempt, including cars manufactured for them, so that no taxes and customs duties, and assisting, educating, training and qualifying them, and setting a percentage for their employment in the state administrative apparatus and units of the public and mixed sectors at 5% of the total vacant jobs.
Regarding these legal privileges that persons with disabilities have actually obtained, al-Qudsi says that even with the implementation of some of them, the level of implementation is still "very poor"; For example, the percentage of employment stipulated by law for this category, and despite the efforts made by the Federation or associations specialized in the affairs of people with disabilities, this percentage is not actually given to them. As well as with regard to free medical care and the reduction of disability, he said that they face "great difficulty" in obtaining treatment services in the manner specified in the law, and similarly, reducing the value of tickets for travel, especially domestic tickets.
Psychological Support
"Several moments of pain are experienced by Sawsan.", the psychiatrist, Zahra Abdullah, said in her interview with "Khuyut", where she said that Sawsan needs urgent psychological support from her family and her husband first, and then from those around her, noting that those who lost their limbs must obtain reassurance and psychological support, because their "suffering is endless" after finding themselves helpless and disabled.
In conclusion, the psychiatrist adds: Those surrounding any person with a disability must support and motivate them in order make them feel safe, and help them to access recovery opportunities and enroll them in rehabilitation centers that offer them with psychological support and provide them with required treatment.
