By Brendan Sweeney
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other world leaders recently attended a summit on ‘Radicalization in Yemen’ which aimed to tackle extremism and discuss the political and economic issues facing the troubled Arabian state.
The British Foreign Office said that the talks would focus on "how to assist the Yemen government to improve security, root out al Qaeda and promote economic and social development".
The meeting was called by the UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, following the failed attempt by a Nigerian extremist - who had been trained in Yemen - to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.
One of the co-authors of the position paper is Anders Folmer Buhelt, Director of the Rule of Law Department at DIHR:
“The Institute has been working with the Ministry of Human Rights in Yemen for some years and in our position paper we stress the importance of building on the existing reform process which is taking place in the country.
“By focusing on state building, the international community can support the legitimacy and accountability of the Yemeni government and promote democratic governance, human rights and an active civil society engagement in public life. If this is done, the Yemeni state can build up trust in its institutions and hinder the activities of extremist groups such as Al Qaeda which operate best in areas beyond state control,” he said.
The Institute has concluded that there is a commitment to reform in Yemen, Anders Folmer Buhelt continued. Most recently, this was confirmed when Yemen’s human rights record was examined during the Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council which resulted in the Yemeni government accepting 124 recommendations.
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