Landmine Awareness in Yemen: Changing gender dynamics
“Remember that explosives may also be hidden in everyday items: fake concrete bricks and blocks, food tins, pots and ovens, or children backpacks. They can also be found in children’s toys,” a young woman, Sara Abdulwahab Baggash, animatedly reminds a crowd as she points out to photos printed on a poster.
Sara is a 25-year-old Mine Risk Educator from Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, and today she is part of a mixed-gender group of young people conducting a community-based awareness session with local families of the Sabr Almawadim neighbourhood in mountainous Taiz.
On the frontlines of Yemen’s decades-long civil war, the city of Taiz is divided between government troops on one side and Houthi militias on the other half. Swathes of land is covered with landmines and other deadly remnants of war.
Women bear brunt of war
In front of assertive Sara are rows of young children, girls, mothers, grand mothers stand and sit on one side, and boys and men on another, all listening attentively to her introduction.
It is quite an unusual sight in conservative Yemen, where women still face severe disparities when it comes to participation, protection, access to information or livelihood opportunities despite gains made before the war.
According to World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2006–2021, the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula ranked last out of 156 countries for its gender parity.
Coincidentally, women and children in Yemen are also more disproportionally impacted than men by the widespread planting of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) due to their responsibilities of caring for their families. Indeed, fetching water, carrying firewood or herding livestock put women and girls more at risk.
New gender dynamics
To counter the deep-rooted issues of gender and diversity, which have been exacerbated by the current conflict, the Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre (YEMAC), Project Masam and other not-for-profits started deploying women, such as Sara, to carry out gender-sensitive Mine Risk Education (MRE) in 2017, according to Aref Al-Qahtani, Executive Director of YEMAC in Taiz.
In this particular area of Taiz, Sara is focusing her MRE presentation on women — young and old — and children living in mine-affected communities near the Ibrahim Aqeel School on the western outskirts of Taiz — a former battleground which left the area heavily contaminated by landmines and IEDs.
“Being a woman, I can understand quite well another woman’s feeling when she becomes a victim of mines and explosives,” Sara said after the session ended, highlighting how only female Yemenis can deliver many of the activities which seek to reduce the risk of injury from landmines and ERW by raising awareness and promoting behavioural change that directly target women and children.
“In order to convey the message, I tell her that landmines’ impact on women is greater than that on men. For example, if she is engaged, her marriage may be at risk. If she is a breadwinner, she suffers a lot,” the young woman stated, explaining that women with disabilities may be considered a burden or overlooked as potential spouses, leaving them facing emotional trauma in addition to physical injury.
Sat under low-hanging trees next to Taiz University entrance, from which they will take transport home, Sara, her 20-year-old female colleague Boshra Mohammed, and male counterparts Wesam Bassim Abdo and Emad Ibrahim Abdo, 25 and 24 respectively, discussed the difference between raising landmine awareness with women and men in a country where cultural and religious norms continue to affect individuals’ roles in society.
The little group all work for YEMAC, and often work alongside one of Project Masam’s demining teams in Taiz, Team 22.
In Wesam’s mind, the establishment of new gender dynamics (mine action is typically seen as being an exclusively male-dominated sector in Yemen) is of utmost importance in the country, where women aren’t expected to lecture men, and unfamiliar men aren’t expected to address women.
Gender-focused awareness
“When I start explaining the situation, I focus on showing the psychological sides on women in general. When you explain this point, it becomes clear that the danger of mines on women is much larger than on men,” Sara said, pointing to the difference between male and female vulnerabilities, their needs and access to assistance and services.
“This is because a man can recover from the crisis faster and get more assistance. When you point out to women that mines and explosives badly affect their psychological, physical and social state, you get a better response from them.”
With women such as Sara and Boshra taking centre stage next to their male colleagues, however, this imbalance in women’s participation is reduced. Women and girls feel free to answer questions thrown at the crows, and ask questions that are relevant to them and their families.
“You can also tell women the stories of other women, whose lives got destroyed because of mines. Every woman is responsible for conveying the message on the danger of mines to her children.”
These mixed-gender, and gender-specific MRE sessions allow for the message to be shared more widely across communities, as Wesam pointed out that “a mother is supposed to raise the awareness to her children as well as her friends who, in turn, will do the same.”
Reducing landmine victims
The young Mine Risk Educator’s work has had a great impact in reducing the number of landmines and IED victims across Taiz province.
“Before launching awareness campaigns, we looked at the statistics in the more endangered [high risk] districts, such as Salh, Sabir Al Mawadim, Mawza and Al-Wazi’iyah districts: before the outreach campaigns, there were casualties every day, and a very large number of victims were recorded every day,” Wesam highlighted.
“After campaigns, the number of victims started to decrease. The more we carried out these awareness campaigns, the smaller number of victims was recorded. Our campaigns now target both children and mothers to raise their awareness.”
Wesam and Emad also carry out sessions for fathers and sons who “also get their share of awareness for themselves and for others”.
He added: “So, it is an awareness-raising cycle.”
Before they left the area, the group put up weather-proof PVC posters containing illustrated information about landmines, IEDs and other remnants of war (mortar, artillery shells, bullets, fuses, etc…). The 24×36 inches posters also list recommendations (Do not approach, disturb or pick up a foreign item. Report the potential threat or item to the authorities, YEMAC or Project Masam. Tell others to avoid the area, etc…) as well as a hotline number for reporting.
“All this has resulted in a decrease in the number of victims; a matter which we consider an achievement. We have succeeded in making the number of victims decline,” Sara concluded, stating that gender-sensitive MRE is integral to improving the effectiveness and effect of any other demining activity in Yemen.
By Elsa Buchanan
