A carefully drafted text from the Document on Reconciliation and the Building of the Modern Yemeni State, published in Hamlat by the Mawatana Organization for Human Rights.
Institutional and legislative reform represents an urgent necessity that must be accorded the highest level of importance in post-conflict Yemen, as it constitutes one of the key measures to prevent recurrence of violations and contributes effectively to enhancing accountability, justice, and human rights. It also helps ensure citizens’ access to essential services, fosters trust between the community and the authorities, and strengthens confidence in transitional justice programs and recovery plans. The following principles and foundations should guide the process of institutional and legislative reform:
1. Reform of the Constitution: Redrafting the constitution in line with the aspirations of the Yemeni people, based on the outputs of the National Dialogue Conference in general, and the recommendations of the State-Building Team in particular.
2. Structural and Operational Reforms: Implement gradual and comprehensive reforms across various institutions, particularly the justice and security sectors and the military, following carefully studied plans based on the diagnosis of challenges and imbalances and the implementation of appropriate corrective measures.
3. Enhancing Transparency and Accountability: Establish diverse oversight mechanisms for various institutions and their operations.
4. Training and Capacity Building: Equip personnel in the security and justice sectors with sufficient knowledge of laws and regulations to ensure respect for human rights and the effective administration of justice.
5. Good Governance and Administrative Efficiency: Implement sound governance and management practices, set clear and transparent financial and administrative policies, and promote digital transformation and technological development, including the governance and modernization of the security and justice sectors. This will limit institutional and individual violations and enhance citizens’ access to basic services on an equal footing.
6. Anti-Corruption Measures: Strengthen mechanisms to combat financial and administrative corruption, illicit enrichment, money laundering, and other illegal activities.
7. Legal Review and Alignment: Review and amend existing laws to ensure their compliance with international human rights standards.
8. New Legislation: Enact laws and regulations that support transitional justice, institutional reform, anti-corruption efforts, and the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. Such legislation should provide clear and specific definitions of human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, child recruitment, torture, and other grave abuses, criminalize and prohibit them under all circumstances, and establish strict legal safeguards to prevent recurrence and ensure accountability for perpetrators.
9. Criminalization of Torture: Enact legislation criminalizing all forms of torture and imposing deterrent penalties on law enforcement officers, investigators, or others who commit it. Activate legal provisions prohibiting the use of any statements or confessions obtained under physical or psychological coercion.
10. Transparency in Implementation: Ensure transparency in executing various agreements, address related issues, provide necessary information, and engage civil society in its multiple roles, including oversight and awareness-raising.
11. Repeal of Conflict-Era Decisions and Laws: Revoke all decisions and laws issued under the state of conflict, particularly those restricting public and personal freedoms such as freedom of expression, movement, and travel, as well as unjust rulings based on exceptional procedures lacking fair trial guarantees.
12. Media Truce: Announce a media truce among all parties and direct media outlets to promote reconciliation, brotherhood, and opportunities for peace.