HF promotes coordination between human rights groups in Yemen

The Humanitarian Forum (HF) has announced future plans and projects in Yemen which will enhance the role of local NGO’s funded by the European Commission, said Mr.Khalid al-Mulad, country Director of Islamic relief Yemen during the opening ceremony. The Humanitarian Forum was launched at a three day meeting from 27-29 October at the Sana’a Sheraton. 

During the opening ceremony, the HF Yemen Board of Trustees said the projects they will undertake will help improve the performance of NGOs in Yemen and help them carry out their activities in the best possible manner. During the three-day meeting, HF Yemen met members of the international HF steering committee as well as representative from other national forums.

During the meeting, Abdo Mohammed al-Hakimi, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs and Labor stressed the necessity of communication between the forum’s member organizations, the government, national and international donors, executive institutions, the private sector and NGOs in order to achieve the forum’s objectives.

“Yemen looks forward to the coordination of civil society’s humanitarian activities in order to increase their training capacity and to benefit from the first forum’s experience in other countries including Kuwait and Sudan,” said al-Hakimi. Al-Hakimi said the objectives cannot be achieved without coordination, cooperation and the adoption of modern methods as management is the basis for either success or failure.

Hani al-Bana founder and chairperson of HF and the Humanitarian Forum Yemen board said the organization would provide training to local NGOs to help bring their charitable work up to international standards. During the press conference, al-Bana called for a more rational and efficient approach, noting some of the current weaknesses. “When a disaster occurs, we deal with it emotionally and sometimes arbitrarily," he said. Al-Bana said charitable organizations should play a role in a community's capacity building, adding the forum seeks to support civil society throughout the world by securing for them a safe working environment. He assured attendees of the conference the Yemen forum will contribute to encouraging local humanitarian activities, pointing to the Yemeni role in the spread of Islam and civilization, and asking the Yemeni people to continue their efforts to promote humanitarian links.

Members of the Humanitarian Forum Executive Council headed by Dr. Abas Zabarah said the forum will build society’s capacities to enable them to build a charitable community which will provide humanitarian assistance. They added  the forum will seek to achieve these objectives through five major sectors; constituting, capacity building, good administrative coordination, cooperation in field activities, building humanitarian policy and promoting humanitarian links.

Forum manager and Yemeni Red Crescent General Secretary Dr. Zabarah commended the forum, saying its objective is the unification of visions in order to be able to deliver their humanitarian message in partnership with the relevant bodies which provide humanitarian services to the vulnerable. It also seeks to make the humanitarian activity a cultural behavior. 

In his speech at the opening of the humanitarian forum, the residential representative of Islamic Relief Khalid al-Mulad said the forum is a significant step forward in partnership building with Islamic relief, the forum and civil society in order to promote a domestic and international humanitarian partnership.

Al-Mulad added the forum aims to increase the capacity of civil society because it can play important roles at the community level and can reach all regions and every family. 

He urged local societies to be transparent and independent, ensuring one day foreign organizations will no longer be needed in Yemen.

He said the forum devised a clear mechanism, objectives and strategies of civil society capacity building, adding it is complementary to the former conference held in Jakarta. It organized strategies, work opportunities, budgets and formulated objectives. 

The Yemen branch of Islamic relief promoted the forum through a number of workshops, attracting the support of a number of civil society organizations. They nominated some of their members, including board members from the Yemeni Women’s Association, the al-Saleh charitable establishment, the Islah Social Reform Society, the Yemeni Red Crescent and the al-Mu'taman Society. Abas Zabarah was elected as the forum's manager.

Manager of the British International Humanitarian Forum James Hamilton said this conference is part of a series of meetings held every 6 months in which international group meet with local groups in every country. These meetings are held to discuss cooperation, and follow up on the implementation of projects, while remaining impartial and neutral so local communities can form their own agenda. 

The HF director Mr. James Hamilton said the participation of all civil organizations in the HFY will allow them to make strong links with other humanitarian forum branches. Furthermore, the HFY will play a strong role in the community, regionally and internationally

Mr. Yahya al-Dubba, member of the HFY's board of trustees, said local NGOs and charities perform a great role in development, health, education and other fields, but their role is not visible. "Our role will be to publicize their efforts and cite them in international reports so their role is recognized. The Forum will also coordinate the humanitarian work of local organizations," said al-Dubba. 

HFY seeks equal representation for all varieties of community-based organizations, and will target as many local organizations as possible to enhance their role in their respective communities.

HF Yemen coordinator Ms. al-Hebshi said HFY will build the capacity of its members, networking them and building bridges of cooperation between domestic organizations and the international community.

“Network CSOs gather their efforts and create effective partnerships among them, and work to be one hand, one union one community in the Humanitarian Forum,” said al-Hebshi.

This conference continued for 3 days and discussed several issues in each pilot country, which include Kuwait, Sudan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Yemen. They discussed how to build national forums and create a global network, their needs and challenges, and their draft strategies and future activities for each country.

The meeting fell under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and was attended by Dr. al-Hakimi, Deputy-Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr. Hani al-Bana founder and chairperson of the HF board of trustees, Mr. James Hamilton the Director of HF, Mr. Khalid al-Mulad the country Director of Islamic relief Yemen and a number of HF international trustees. Also in attendance were HF-Yemen board members and a 20 member team of foreigners from an international networks of key humanitarian and charitable organizations  involved in the Global Humanitarian Forum, including the British Red Cross, Islamic Relief Worldwide, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mercy Corps, the Qatar Red Crescent Society, IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (Turkey),  Oxfam UK, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and finally a number of diplomatic personalities and Yemeni civil society leaders.

The Humanitarian Forum (HF) was initiated June 2004 and seeks to foster partnerships and closer co-operation among humanitarian and charitable organizations from Muslim countries, humanitarian and charitable organizations from the ‘West’ and the multi-lateral system. The Forum’s goal is to help create a conducive, unbiased and safe environment for the implementation of technically sound and principled humanitarian action. They hope to do this by providing a platform for dialogue, promoting mutual understanding, supporting capacity building and the development of NGOs and charities, advocating for a legal framework for greater transparency and accountability, promoting humanitarian principles and standards and improving communication and co-operation. Registered in London as an English charitable organization in early 2008, HF consists of 6 famous INGO’s as trustees and a number of charitable organizations form the HF steering committee. HF has managed to establish a National NGO Forums in pilot countries who enforce self regulation and promote the best practices and hope to a link national NGOs to global/central Humanitarian Forum.

Since 2005 several Yemeni Civil society organizations have participated in the Humanitarian Forum initiative, and through the support of Islamic relief Yemen they created the Forum General Assembly in early 2008. It consists of 20 participating Yemeni Organizations who chose the HFY Board of Trustees. These organizations are the Yemeni Red Crescent, the Al-Saleh Social Foundation for Development, Charitable Society for Social Welfare, the Yemen Women’s Union and the Almu’tamen Social Development Organization. They also elected Dr. Abass Zabara from the Yemeni Red Crescent as president of the Humanitarian Forum, and nominated Ms. Buthaina Al-Hebshi as Country Coordinator for HFY.

HFY targets Yemeni Civil Society Organizations as beneficiaries and members in the forum, where it opens membership for INGO’s as observers.

Under the sponsorship of the Social Affairs and Labor Minister, Amat al-Rzaq Ali Humad, the International Humanitarian forum held the Orientation Committee meeting in Yemen in collaboration with Yemeni Islamic Relief and members of the Foundation Council Secretaries on 27-29 of this month.

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