WOMEN'S FORUM FOR RESEARCH AND TRAINING (YEMEN)

A women's forum in Yemen.

The Women's Forum for Research and Training (Multaqa al-marʾa lil-dirasat, wa al-Tadrib, WFRT) was established in 2000 to mobilize women's and human-rights organizations to work together for empowering women. The forum's main objective is to advance the rule of law regarding women's issues and rights and to build consensus in society at large on the urgency of incorporating gender dimensions in all fields of development and law. The forum's work recognizes that even though Yemeni legislation on human rights is among the best in the Arab world, women's rights are regularly violated and women lack knowledge of their rights. To accomplish its goals, the forum works on several levels, including arranging workshops for state officials, introducing human-rights issues to key figures in nongovernmental organizations and development agencies, and arranging training courses for grass-roots activists. The forum has its office in Taʿiz, and its staff includes very young people. The initiator and manager of WFRT, Suʿad al-Qadasr is one of the most prominent Yemeni human rights activists. Prior to founding WFRT she was the chairperson of the Yemeni Women's Union Taʿiz branch and a leading figure in Human Rights Information and Training Centre. WFRT publications include research and surveys (Street Children Phenomenon in Yemen, 2003), the periodical Multaqa (Forum), and the leaflet "Suʾal wa jawab" (Questions and answers). WFRT is located on the Internet at <www.geocities.com/taralws/wfrt.htm>.

susanne dahlgren