"We, the marginalized, live a difficult and harsh life as a result of displacement and war, which have increased our suffering. I was displaced from Taiz to Ibb and then to Marib, where I settled after that, but the situation is very difficult; no one can bear its severity," says Saeed Mohammed, a man in his mid-thirties, from one of the displacement camps in Marib governorate.

Saeed adds in his interview with "Khuyut," “Some camps were allocated to us as marginalized people, but they lack the most basic necessities of life and the lowest levels of attention from the concerned authorities, to the extent that when the tent in which I live with my wife and five children was exposed to a fire, I remained in the open for a long time, until those concerned finally paid attention to my great suffering. In addition to the inability of our children to enroll in education due to displacement, the poor economic situation, and the racism that we face specifically as strangers and people with dark skin, all of these are reasons that have exacerbated our suffering here in Marib,” noting that despite all the difficulties they face in Marib, however, compared to what they experienced in other governorates, are considered the least.

Besides, the marginalized people of dark skin in Marib governorate, just as in other Yemeni governorates, live in very difficult and tragic living conditions, while the displacement has exacerbated them with regard to those who came to Marib as displaced and homeless in the governorate’s areas without housing to shelter them or jobs, as is the case in the rest of the regions of Yemen.

Further, tragedies in the displacement camps are repeated continuously and from time to time, and this reflects a lack of precautionary measures to protect their residents from possible hazards such as fires and floods. This neglect coincides with a scarcity of support received by the marginalized, in addition to not taking into account the difficult terrain and climatic conditions during the allocation and establishment of the displacement camps.

“The war and conflict in Yemen have caused the displacement of many Yemeni citizens, including marginalized ones. Marib governorate has received the largest percentage of them over the past nine years, all of whom live in tragic conditions that require the concerted efforts of all humanitarian and human rights organizations to provide aid and assistance to the marginalized.”

Since the beginning of 2023, the number of fires in the displacement camps in Marib has reached about 118 fire incidents, which, according to the reports of the executive unit of the IDP Camps, caused damage that included about 208 families, the death of 7 people, and the injury of 21 people, most of whom were children, women, and the elderly.

A Fence of Traditions and Neglect

Saeed states the vision of the Muhamasheen (the marginalized) for the reasons of their continued isolation as a result of society's refusal to accept and integrate them despite their serious attempts to engage in public and social life, referring to the prevailing narrative that holds the "Marginalized" responsible for their isolation. He believes that society is a partner in many practices of discrimination and ostracism against them.

He points out the classism practiced in Yemeni society and the restriction of the “marginalized” to jobs that people in society reject, as the lucky ones, as Saeed says, are those who work as cleaners. Therefore, to change this situation, effective laws are required to criminalize discrimination in all its forms, in addition to supporting the “marginalized” group at the economic, social, and educational levels in a way that contributes to their integration into society.

An official in the National Union of the Marginalized, who spoke to “Khuyut”, explains that talking about the isolation experienced by the “marginalized” has nothing to do with the truth because their main suffering is the discrimination and ostracism they face as a result of classism and some of the traditions and customs prevailing in society that have formed a solid barrier against the values ​​of equality among Yemeni citizens, while the problem will remain as long as the state guaranteeing rights and freedoms is absent.

In his interview with "Khuyut," human rights activist Radman Hamid believes that the process of integrating them is not possible in the near future unless the state is the one that sponsors and guarantees the rights of everyone, without exception.

He indicates that the poor integration of the marginalized group and their involvement and productivity in the labor market is due to several reasons, some of which are internal factors related to the culture of this group, and others related to the successive policies of governments in Yemen, which have failed miserably in developing this group and integrating it into society.

Unsafe Places

The National Union of the Marginalized confirms that the war and conflict in Yemen have caused the displacement of many Yemeni citizens, including the marginalized ones. Marib has received the largest percentage of them over the past nine years, all of whom live in tragic conditions that require the concerted efforts of all humanitarian and human rights organizations to provide aid and assistance to the marginalized.

For his part, Ayman Atta, the media officer in the executive unit for the displaced camps in Marib, confirms in an interview with “Khuyut” that the executive unit deals with all displaced people equally. The executive unit, in partnership with organizations operating in Marib governorate, has established camps for the displaced to provide temporary housing, in addition to providing them with basic services such as food, medicine, education, shelter materials, protection, water, environmental sanitation, and electricity. However, despite all these efforts, the needs still exist due to the influx of displaced people and the modest interventions.

It is worth noting that Marib alone hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people from various Yemeni regions and governorates due to the war and conflict in the country, equivalent to 62% of the percentage of displaced people in the rest of the governorates of the Republic.

According to Atta, the executive unit also, in the event of fires in the camps, transports the displaced to safe places such as schools and government offices, and then addressing the Shelter Cluster, the Health Cluster, the Food Cluster, the Water and Environmental Sanitation Cluster, and the Camp Management Cluster to urgently provide basic needs.

The aid also includes the provision of firefighting and ambulance services, temporary shelter, and other humanitarian assistance, as the aid provided varies according to the need, implementation capacity, and available resources.

The measures that the authorities concerned with the displaced in Marib are seeking to implement include: replacing the emergency shelter with a more permanent one; in addition, according to Atta, measures to prevent fires and the harsh desert weather; providing health care, psychological and social support; providing assistance in resettlement; and improving the living conditions of the displaced.

Likewise, he confirms that it is not possible to separate the marginalized from the other displaced people. Thus, in the eyes of the executive unit, they are equal, and we deal with them from one human perspective. Most of the displaced people of the marginalized group live with the rest of the displaced people.

The suffering of the marginalized in all regions of Yemen remains part of a general problem in which several social, political and economic factors have overlapped, while Yemenis have been keen to manage their affairs away from researching the causes of the disruption of their social relations.