Geneva – SAM for Rights and Liberties said that 29 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, comes this year as Yemeni women face one of the most violent contexts in the world in terms of the scale and interconnectedness of violations. Warfare–related violence intersects with family violence, violence by security agencies and militias, digital violence, and structural and legal violence amid an almost complete collapse of protection systems and essential services. The organization stressed that commemorating this occasion in Yemen is meaningless unless it is translated into concrete commitments to end the war, confront deeply rooted structural violence embedded in laws and customs, and ensure that every woman and girl can live free from fear, violence, and discrimination, and be treated as a full rights-bearing actor in rebuilding peace and justice in the country.
SAM stated that violence against women in Yemen takes on a harsher dimension, with risks multiplying amid the protracted armed conflict and humanitarian and economic crises ongoing since 2014, in a country consistently ranked at the bottom of global gender-gap indices.
The organization noted that Yemen is one of the most fragile countries in the world, and that years of war, economic collapse, and climate-related disasters have disproportionately worsened the conditions of women and girls. Humanitarian data shows that nearly 80% of the 4.8 million internally displaced persons are women and children, and that nearly a quarter of displaced households are headed by women, placing them at the center of a cycle of poverty, violence, and lack of protection.
SAM added that Yemen ranked 153 out of 153 countries on gender equality indicators in the 2019–2020 assessments, and 155 out of 156 countries in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Index, reflecting a structural reality of discrimination and unequal opportunities in education, employment, and political representation—making violence against women an expected outcome of an unfair social and legal framework.
SAM explained, drawing on analyses by humanitarian working groups on gender-based violence, that no fewer than 6.2 million women and girls in Yemen face heightened risks of abuse and exploitation in various forms, with an estimated 6.2 million people needing gender-based-violence-related services and protection under the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan—while current programs reach only a small fraction of these needs.
The organization noted that women and girls constitute nearly 80% of IDPs, and that 26% of newly displaced households between January and May 2025 were headed by women. Overcrowded camp environments lacking gender-sensitive design—such as non-segregated latrines, poor lighting, and lack of privacy—have increased the risks of sexual violence, harassment, and exploitation, especially amid weak reporting and protection mechanisms.
SAM added that the crisis goes beyond the scale of risks to include glaring service gaps. Data indicates that nearly 90% of rural areas lack gender-based-violence services, and that fewer than 5% of health facilities provide clinical management of rape, meaning that the vast majority of survivors receive no life-saving medical, psychological, or legal support.
The organization noted that cuts in humanitarian funding have forced UN agencies—foremost the UNFPA—to reduce roughly 40% of women’s protection programs, including suspending support for 10 safe spaces and closing or suspending 22 others, depriving tens of thousands of women and girls of case management, psychosocial support, legal aid, and cash assistance—at a time when violence is rising, not declining.
SAM confirmed that the armed conflict in Yemen has made women’s bodies, lives, and dignity part of the battlefield. Reports by the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen have documented sustained, widespread, and systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture, conflict-related sexual violence, and enforced disappearance of civilian women.
It noted that the 2023 UN expert panel report documented the case of a young woman in her early twenties abducted in Sana’a and arbitrarily detained for more than 17 months, subjected to torture and attempted rape. The victim reported the presence of around 300 other women and girls, including minors as young as 12, detained in the central prison on fabricated “honor”-related accusations—a pattern combining state violence and stigma-based societal violence.
SAM also referred to the report’s finding that landmines and explosive remnants of war represent another face of wartime violence against women. Between October 2021 and September 2022, the report recorded 591 civilian casualties, including 196 deaths and 395 injuries, most of them women and children—turning daily movement to school, work, or to fetch water into a journey of mortal risk.
The organization added that the escalation of conflict has fueled a sharp rise in child marriage, sexual violence, and exploitation. International reports indicate that rates of child marriage have nearly doubled since the war began, and that girls in displacement and economic hardship are pushed into early marriage, “tourist marriage,” or trafficking for sexual exploitation—gross violations of the rights of women and children.
SAM highlighted that digital violence against women and girls in Yemen has reached dangerous levels in recent years, as the online space has become an open arena for blackmail, harassment, and privacy violations amid the authorities’ failure and weak platform protections. This violence manifests through methods such as leaking photos, threats to publish them, fake accounts, and coercion into unwanted relationships or extortion for money—exploiting the fragility of the social and legal context.
Human rights reports show that women are often targeted by people they know—friends, acquaintances, or former partners—making the experience more traumatic due to deception and betrayal. Regional and national studies have documented dozens of cases where digital harassment escalated into direct threats of killing or rape, and even suicide attempts due to overwhelming psychological pressure. The risks intensify in a society that blames the victim rather than the perpetrator, and treats photos—even innocent ones—as “sensitive material” that can inflict severe social harm on women.
Reports show that digital platforms, especially Facebook, have not provided adequate protection. Amnesty International documented seven cases of women subjected to extortion and harassment between 2019 and 2023; none knew how to use reporting tools or request content removal. The publication of real or manipulated photos destroyed the professional and social lives of several women, some of whom suffered depression, isolation, and suicide attempts following sustained threats.
SAM explained that survivors face multiple barriers in seeking justice—beginning with fear of family reactions and extending to worse experiences inside police stations and prosecutors’ offices, where some women are directly blamed or accused of provoking the harassment through their appearance or communication. Others are asked for bribes to move forward with their cases. Despite the existence of cybercrime units in some governorates, most women are unaware of them—deepening isolation and shrinking access to protection.
The organization added that the absence of modern legislation worsens the crisis. Courts still rely on outdated laws that do not address digital crimes clearly, giving judges wide discretion to avoid prosecuting offenders or dismiss cases. The lack of female personnel in security institutions pushes many women to seek help from local initiatives such as “Sanad” or digital safety specialists who attempt to remove harmful content but face challenges due to global platforms’ limited understanding of the conservative Yemeni context.
SAM stressed that this form of violence not only harms women’s private lives but also undermines their participation in public life, forcing many to close their accounts or withdraw from work or activism, deepening the gender gap and keeping digital spaces male-dominated and violent. Stigma-driven narratives trap survivors in fear while perpetrators enjoy near-total impunity.
SAM stated that violence against women extends into public spaces and the media. Female journalists and human rights defenders face campaigns of defamation and incitement online and offline, including fabricated morality-related accusations and the use of real or doctored images. These campaigns sometimes lead to detention and torture, forcing many women to withdraw from public life or impose strict self-censorship over their presence and speech.
The organization noted that a study on Yemen’s media landscape showed that women constitute less than 20% of media workers, are absent from 84% of news programs, and that only 3% of women hold senior positions such as general director or deputy director. There is no law explicitly prohibiting or penalizing sexual harassment in the workplace, making media—and other sectors—environments rife with invisible violence against women and reinforcing their portrayal as victims or homemakers rather than experts and decision-makers.
SAM said that violence perpetrated by security agencies and armed militias is among the gravest forms of violence against women in Yemen. It includes not only arbitrary detention and torture but also sexual violence, extortion, and stigma, used as tools to silence dissent or punish opponents’ families, thereby violating women’s dignity and safety.
The organization noted that recent UN reports on conflict-related sexual violence in Yemen—including reports by the Panel of Experts and the Group of Eminent Experts—documented the use of sexual violence as a strategic tool to humiliate and break the will of opponents, including stripping female relatives of detainees before them, sexual enslavement of detainees, and cases of children born in detention due to rape and later separated from their mothers.
SAM reported that the “Zainabiyat”—a female security force affiliated with the de facto authorities in Sana’a—play a central role in this context. UN reports indicate that members of this force raid women’s homes, search and beat them, participate in torturing detainees, use electric shocks during protests and detention, and hand women and girls over to officials and fighters to rape them—reflecting the use of women to suppress women within a closed repressive structure.
The organization added that international reports—including studies by the Global Survivors Fund and ECDHR—confirm that survivors of sexual violence in Yemen, whether inside the country or in host states such as Egypt, face a combination of poverty, fear of deportation, and threats of “honor killings,” with some killed or targeted by relatives due to the stigma of rape—making access to justice more difficult and reinforcing impunity.
SAM emphasized that domestic violence is the most hidden and widespread form of violence against women in Yemen. Studies indicate that intimate-partner violence is the majority of reported cases, occurring mostly in the home—out of sight from the law and media—within social norms that normalize beating and coercion as acceptable “discipline.”
A previous field study in Sana’a showed that 55% of ever-married women reported physical violence by partners (such as beating or confinement), 51% reported threats, and 17% reported sexual violence. Yet fewer than 3% sought police intervention due to fear of stigma, family pressure, and lack of trust in the justice system.
SAM added that child marriage—both a structural and a sexual form of violence—is among the most dangerous abuses facing girls. International estimates suggest that nearly one-third of Yemeni girls marry before age 18, with higher rates amid displacement, poverty, and war. Reports have indicated that child marriage tripled between 2015 and 2018, becoming a coercive “coping mechanism” families resort to—though in reality it is a codified form of violence.
Harmful practices extend beyond early marriage. Female genital mutilation remains present: population surveys show that around 19% of Yemeni women have undergone some form of FGM, with rates in some coastal governorates reaching 62–85%, and a recent study in southern governorates reporting rates around 89%, with some procedures still performed by health workers, giving them false medical legitimacy.
SAM stated that violence against women in Yemen is not limited to physical or sexual harm but is embedded in laws, policies, and practices that entrench discrimination, grant perpetrators legal privileges, and deprive women of protection and justice—constituting “structural violence” produced by the system rather than individuals.
The organization noted that the Yemeni Personal Status Law still permits marrying off girls under 18 with a guardian’s consent, despite repeated recommendations to raise the minimum age. Meanwhile, the Penal Code grants leniency to perpetrators of so-called “honor crimes.” Article 232 reduces punishment to as little as one year for killing a wife or female relative under claims of catching her in adultery, while ordinary murder carries the death penalty—sending a dangerous message that legitimizes lethal violence against women.
SAM stated that de facto authorities in Sana’a, along with other parties elsewhere, have imposed severe restrictions on women’s freedom of movement through the “mahram” requirement, preventing women from traveling, working, or participating in public activities without a male guardian. This restricts their rights to movement, work, education, and community participation, increases their exposure to poverty and violence, and hinders female humanitarian workers from accessing the most vulnerable women.
The organization added that the gender gap in education and labor reflects another form of structural violence: women’s labor-force participation is extremely low (4.5–6%) compared to over 50% for men; female illiteracy rates reach 60%; and many girls are deprived of schooling, especially in rural and conflict-affected areas. Public policies have failed to bridge these gaps.
SAM stated that the gap between risks and needs on the one hand, and available services on the other, continues to widen. UNFPA data indicates that gender-based-violence programs targeted 567,100 people in 2025, while women and girls needing life-saving support are estimated at 9.6 million, meaning most survivors and at-risk individuals remain unserved.
The organization noted that suspension of some donor funding—such as USAID—deprived 400,000 women and girls of vital services, including closure or suspension of 22 safe spaces, depriving 90,000 women and girls of comprehensive services, 6,000 of legal assistance, 9,741 of cash or vouchers, and closure of five psychosocial support centers, depriving 28,000 women and girls, including pregnant women, of pre- and post-natal and life-saving mental-health support.
SAM added that restrictions on protection interventions in some areas, mahram restrictions on staff movement, and prolonged power outages hinder service delivery. UN estimates show that one Yemeni woman dies every two hours due to preventable pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications, that fewer than half of births are attended by skilled personnel, and that access to mental-health services is nearly nonexistent—despite rising reports of suicidal ideation, mostly among women and girls.
SAM stated that violence against women in Yemen is rooted in deep structural factors: extreme poverty, lack of livelihoods, rising living costs, patriarchal norms legitimizing male control and normalizing corporal punishment, legal loopholes, weak justice institutions, and a culture that blames victims and equates family honor with women’s bodies and behavior.
Wars, displacement, and hunger have worsened these factors, forcing families to adopt harmful strategies such as marrying off girls, pushing them into hazardous labor, begging, or irregular migration. Economic and psychological pressures fuel more domestic violence, in the absence of counseling services or programs addressing toxic masculinity and fostering equitable social relationships.
SAM added that digital violence specifically reflects the convergence of social, cultural, legal, and political factors: outdated cybercrime laws, weak police and prosecutorial capacity, and rampant incitement against female activists all make the online space an extension of structural violence—used to exclude women from public life and punish them for participation or expression.
SAM affirmed that all parties to the conflict in Yemen—including the internationally recognized government, de facto authorities, and all militias—are legally and morally obligated to stop all forms of violence against women and girls, including conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary detention, torture, and discriminatory restrictions on women’s movement and work, and to fully comply with international humanitarian law and human rights law, investigating violations and holding perpetrators accountable.
The organization added that the international community and donor states must avoid policies that effectively undermine life-saving protection services, such as severe funding cuts or program suspensions without alternatives. They should support local civil-society organizations, including women’s and survivors’ groups, enabling them to provide comprehensive services and participate in designing transitional-justice policies and ensuring accountability for sexual and gender-based violence.
SAM stressed that the situation of women and girls in Yemen has reached unprecedented levels of danger due to years of war, economic and institutional collapse, the expansion of violations by multiple actors, societal normalization of violence, and the widespread prevalence of gender-based violence in all its forms. Based on its human-rights mandate and commitment to a comprehensive approach centered on women’s protection and empowerment, the organization presents the following demands and recommendations:
Immediate cessation of all conflict-related violence, including deliberate attacks on civilians, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities.
Closing secret prisons and illegal detention centers, granting human-rights bodies access, and investigating violations against women and holding perpetrators accountable.
Abolishing discriminatory restrictions on women’s movement, including the “mahram” system that prevents them from traveling, working, and accessing humanitarian and justice services.
Ensuring protection of internally displaced and refugee women through improved camp infrastructure, safe facilities, adequate lighting, segregated services, and safe reporting points.
Ending the exploitation of girls and women in the armed conflict, including forced recruitment, coercion into military or security roles, or using them as tools for surveillance or political pressure.
Adopting comprehensive legal frameworks to combat gender-based violence, criminalizing domestic, sexual, and digital violence, with clear protection mechanisms and safe reporting procedures.
Enacting legislation that sets the minimum marriage age at 18 and prohibits forced marriage, child marriage, and “tourist marriage.”
Reforming the justice system by training prosecutors, judges, and security officers on gender-based-violence cases and ensuring specialized female staff.
Strengthening investigative mechanisms in sexual-violence cases and guaranteeing protection for survivors and witnesses, with confidential procedures preventing retaliation.
Providing free government services for survivors, including psychological care, healthcare, legal assistance, and safe shelters.
Launching a national strategy against domestic violence, with a legal definition of intimate-partner violence, emergency protection mechanisms, and 24-hour confidential hotlines.
Integrating awareness programs in schools and universities promoting respect for women and rejecting gender-based violence.
Implementing mass media campaigns against customary practices that justify violence, including “honor” narratives used to justify abuse or silence women.
Empowering community and religious leaders to adopt violence-prevention narratives and support women and girls instead of reinforcing stigma.
Ensuring that survivors of sexual violence have access to comprehensive healthcare, including clinical management of rape and specialized psychological support.
Rejecting tribal mediation or settlements in sexual-violence cases.
Providing safe reporting pathways in rural and underserved areas through mobile teams or protected community centers.
Enacting modern cybercrime legislation clearly defining extortion, digital privacy violations, and gender-based defamation, with effective survivor protections.
Requiring social-media platforms to cooperate with rights organizations and develop Arabic-language, context-appropriate reporting tools.
Establishing specialized digital-investigation units in prosecution and security agencies, with trained personnel including women.
Strengthening digital literacy through awareness programs on account protection, avoiding extortion, and handling harmful content.
Reforming government policies to ensure women’s inclusion in education, employment, and decision-making, and removing barriers excluding them from public life.
Funding women-focused economic projects to enhance financial independence, especially in rural and impoverished areas.
Mainstreaming gender perspectives in reconstruction and development programs to prevent reinforcing gender gaps.
Establishing national mechanisms for regular monitoring and documentation of gender-based violence to inform future policies.
Increasing funding for women’s protection programs and ensuring continuity of safe spaces and psychological, legal, and health services.
Supporting capacity-building initiatives for local organizations working on women’s rights and documentation of violations.
Pressuring conflict parties to honor obligations under international law, allow humanitarian access, and stop targeting women.
Supporting long-term prevention programs through enhanced education, health, and economic empowerment as foundations for a more equal and less violent society.
SAM for Rights and Liberties emphasized that protecting women is not a “secondary matter” that can be postponed, but a fundamental pillar for achieving peace, justice, and stability in Yemen. The organization stressed that ending the cycle of violence—in all its forms—requires genuine political, legislative, and societal will; otherwise, girls and women will remain at the heart of daily violations without protection or redress.