SANAA (IRIN): Vold og kriminalitet pga. knaphed på land og vandressourcer koster flere menneskeliv end oprør, terrorisme og forsøg på løsrivelse tilsammen.
Yemen is facing an increasingly violent secessionist movement in the south, a recurring insurgency in the north, and regular attacks against the government by the local Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. While these crises garner headlines and attract the attention of Western policymakers, social conflict over scarce resources may represent a more insidious long-term threat to the country, says the report Under Pressure: Social Violence over Land and Water in Yemen.
“Yemen is today faced with a large number of challenges,” Gavin Hales, the lead researcher for the report, told IRIN. “It is unfortunate that social violence over land and water has received relatively little attention despite the widespread impact it has on social and economic development for so many ordinary Yemenis, and the thousands of deaths it causes each year.”
Most such violence takes place in rural areas where the central government holds little sway, and claims the lives of over 4,000 people per year, according to the Ministry of Interior, a number which does not include the significant percentage of cases handled through tribal law.
Average land holdings are shrinking in the face of a high population growth rate of 3 percent a year; and the lack of a comprehensive, reliable system of land registration opens the door to protracted land disputes. Up to half of cases in the court system are land-related, many of which drag on for years, and the system is subject to extensive corruption, further undermining the government’s credibility. With little recourse to legal action, violence becomes an option when tribal mediation fails.
