The “Iron Woman,” as she has come to be known by fellow protestors, wears many hats: she’s a 32-year-old journalist turned pro-democracy activist, member of Yemen’s main opposition party (Al-Islah), mother of three and - since her country’s protests gained international attention in February as part of the so-called Arab Spring - the “mother” of Yemen’s revolution.
Ms. Karman’s journey to New York is in response to the escalating struggle back home, where, in recent weeks, government forces have stepped up violence against protestors. The crackdown was triggered by President Saleh’s unexpected return from Saudi Arabia on September 21, where he was recovering from wounds suffered in a June 3rd assassination attempt. Up until late last month, Yemeni demonstrators had insisted on bringing about political change on their own, but now - with Saleh back from the dead and showing no mercy - they are looking to Turtle Bay for help.
“The people of Yemen are being massacred by their own president and by their own security forces,” said Sherif Ahmed, a co-organizer of the demonstration in U.N. plaza, “and it’s high time for the UN to at least stand on the right side of history and condemn this in the strongest terms and try to pass some sort of legal punishment for those who have killed their own people.”
A Heroin’s Homecoming in a Foreign Land
The Nobel Laureate received a riotous welcome from her Yemeni-American compatriots, who encircled and showered her with cheers. Making her way to the far end of the plaza, she mounted a set of cobblestone steps and led some 100 followers in rally cries: “We promise our martyrs we will achieve the goals of our peaceful and civilian revolution,” she sang. “Our will is like a stone and our revolution is peaceful, peaceful.”
Following the intonations, Ms. Karman gathered media and activists along First Avenue, with the towering Secretariat building in view, to announce why she had made the voyage to Turtle Bay at this particular moment in the nearly ten-month-old struggle for Sana’a: “I came to the United States, specifically to the U.N. in New York City, because this is the foundation of human rights and political rights,” she said. “I came here because I have a letter to the head of the United Nations.” Reading the letter, she expressed her rejection of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) plan to offer President Saleh immunity in return for his resignation, and her demands that the Security Council freeze assets of the regime and referral of the government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its systematic violation of human rights in preceding months.
She concluded by vowing to remain in New York until the U.N. takes action in Yemen.
Washington’s Complicity
In addition to U.N. action, Ms. Karman and the Yemeni American Coalition for Change (YACC), co-sponsors of the rally, are calling on Washington to take a hard line on Saleh. “The U.S. should see this peaceful uprising as a golden opportunity to promote a strong relationship with the Yemeni people and to forge a new relationship with the next generation - the youth of Yemen make up three quarters of the population,” they urged in a press release distributed at the demonstration.
The Obama administration’s reluctance to ratchet up pressure on Saleh, despite his increasingly violent crackdown on protestors, stems from the mutually beneficial relationship the two countries have fostered in an effort to sap al-Qaeda’s strength in the region: Washington provides the government in Sana’a sizable chunks of military and humanitarian aid in return for access to the country and cooperation on counterterrorism efforts.
Though the U.S. did urge Saleh to step down following his assassination attempt in June, YACC feels more pressure is needed, urging “the U.S. and the western media to end their silence and to expose the regime’s crimes against the peaceful protestors and give the Yemeni people and their struggle full and fair coverage.”
Security Council Seeks a Middle Way
With Ms. Karman’s requests in mind - she met with Germany’s Ambassador and others - the U.N. Security Council three days later unanimously passed resolution 2014, which contains two core (contradictory) elements. It first “stresses that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable.” It then “recommends the signature and implementation as soon as possible of a settlement agreement on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative.”
Asked to clarify whether the resolution supported accountability for human rights violations or immunity from them, U.K. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the document’s primary author, said “what we have talked about in this resolution is a political settlement on the basis of the GCC agreement. We have made very clear in the resolution that all those responsible for violence, for human rights abuses should be held accountable. There should be no impunity for human rights abuses or the violence that’s being committed.”
The problem is that Saleh has insisted the only way he would accept the GCC deal is if he is guaranteed immunity from the U.S., E.U. and Gulf states. In other words, no accountability for crimes he may have committed. Since the resolution contains no punitive measures, it can be interpreted more as Council commentary than coercion. Indeed, as the U.K. Ambassador went on to say, “the importance of this resolution is that it’s unanimous. It’s a very strong condemnation, a very strong call from the united international community. And I think that’s what gives the power to this resolution.”
But despite the resolution’s lack of clarity and forcefulness, Ms. Karman appeared upbeat. At a rally in the plaza following the vote, she told a crowd of some 75 anti-Saleh and anti-Assad activists that although the Council’s action “was not enough with regard to the Yemenis’ outlook...I think I could say that it was a good resolution that could help probably to the collapse of these regimes.”
“We have a long way to go,” she continued. “We have to focus on the international tribunal and try these people as war criminals and we have to freeze their assets. These assets should be sent back to the treasuries of our countries so we can rebuild [them into] civil, modern countries in order to reach our horizons.”
She then reiterated her pledge to remain in New York until these goals are accomplished. Her pilgrimage may be permanent.
a global affairs media network
Yemeni Nobel Laureate's Pilgrimage to Turtle Bay
October 24, 2011
The “Iron Woman,” as she has come to be known by fellow protestors, wears many hats: she’s a 32-year-old journalist turned pro-democracy activist, member of Yemen’s main opposition party (Al-Islah), mother of three and - since her country’s protests gained international attention in February as part of the so-called Arab Spring - the “mother” of Yemen’s revolution.
Ms. Karman’s journey to New York is in response to the escalating struggle back home, where, in recent weeks, government forces have stepped up violence against protestors. The crackdown was triggered by President Saleh’s unexpected return from Saudi Arabia on September 21, where he was recovering from wounds suffered in a June 3rd assassination attempt. Up until late last month, Yemeni demonstrators had insisted on bringing about political change on their own, but now - with Saleh back from the dead and showing no mercy - they are looking to Turtle Bay for help.
“The people of Yemen are being massacred by their own president and by their own security forces,” said Sherif Ahmed, a co-organizer of the demonstration in U.N. plaza, “and it’s high time for the UN to at least stand on the right side of history and condemn this in the strongest terms and try to pass some sort of legal punishment for those who have killed their own people.”
A Heroin’s Homecoming in a Foreign Land
The Nobel Laureate received a riotous welcome from her Yemeni-American compatriots, who encircled and showered her with cheers. Making her way to the far end of the plaza, she mounted a set of cobblestone steps and led some 100 followers in rally cries: “We promise our martyrs we will achieve the goals of our peaceful and civilian revolution,” she sang. “Our will is like a stone and our revolution is peaceful, peaceful.”
Following the intonations, Ms. Karman gathered media and activists along First Avenue, with the towering Secretariat building in view, to announce why she had made the voyage to Turtle Bay at this particular moment in the nearly ten-month-old struggle for Sana’a: “I came to the United States, specifically to the U.N. in New York City, because this is the foundation of human rights and political rights,” she said. “I came here because I have a letter to the head of the United Nations.” Reading the letter, she expressed her rejection of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) plan to offer President Saleh immunity in return for his resignation, and her demands that the Security Council freeze assets of the regime and referral of the government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its systematic violation of human rights in preceding months.
She concluded by vowing to remain in New York until the U.N. takes action in Yemen.
Washington’s Complicity
In addition to U.N. action, Ms. Karman and the Yemeni American Coalition for Change (YACC), co-sponsors of the rally, are calling on Washington to take a hard line on Saleh. “The U.S. should see this peaceful uprising as a golden opportunity to promote a strong relationship with the Yemeni people and to forge a new relationship with the next generation - the youth of Yemen make up three quarters of the population,” they urged in a press release distributed at the demonstration.
The Obama administration’s reluctance to ratchet up pressure on Saleh, despite his increasingly violent crackdown on protestors, stems from the mutually beneficial relationship the two countries have fostered in an effort to sap al-Qaeda’s strength in the region: Washington provides the government in Sana’a sizable chunks of military and humanitarian aid in return for access to the country and cooperation on counterterrorism efforts.
Though the U.S. did urge Saleh to step down following his assassination attempt in June, YACC feels more pressure is needed, urging “the U.S. and the western media to end their silence and to expose the regime’s crimes against the peaceful protestors and give the Yemeni people and their struggle full and fair coverage.”
Security Council Seeks a Middle Way
With Ms. Karman’s requests in mind - she met with Germany’s Ambassador and others - the U.N. Security Council three days later unanimously passed resolution 2014, which contains two core (contradictory) elements. It first “stresses that all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable.” It then “recommends the signature and implementation as soon as possible of a settlement agreement on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative.”
Asked to clarify whether the resolution supported accountability for human rights violations or immunity from them, U.K. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the document’s primary author, said “what we have talked about in this resolution is a political settlement on the basis of the GCC agreement. We have made very clear in the resolution that all those responsible for violence, for human rights abuses should be held accountable. There should be no impunity for human rights abuses or the violence that’s being committed.”
The problem is that Saleh has insisted the only way he would accept the GCC deal is if he is guaranteed immunity from the U.S., E.U. and Gulf states. In other words, no accountability for crimes he may have committed. Since the resolution contains no punitive measures, it can be interpreted more as Council commentary than coercion. Indeed, as the U.K. Ambassador went on to say, “the importance of this resolution is that it’s unanimous. It’s a very strong condemnation, a very strong call from the united international community. And I think that’s what gives the power to this resolution.”
But despite the resolution’s lack of clarity and forcefulness, Ms. Karman appeared upbeat. At a rally in the plaza following the vote, she told a crowd of some 75 anti-Saleh and anti-Assad activists that although the Council’s action “was not enough with regard to the Yemenis’ outlook...I think I could say that it was a good resolution that could help probably to the collapse of these regimes.”
“We have a long way to go,” she continued. “We have to focus on the international tribunal and try these people as war criminals and we have to freeze their assets. These assets should be sent back to the treasuries of our countries so we can rebuild [them into] civil, modern countries in order to reach our horizons.”
She then reiterated her pledge to remain in New York until these goals are accomplished. Her pilgrimage may be permanent.
