This statement is available to read in Arabic here.

Two years ago, a group of Yemeni civil society came together to put forward the Yemen Declaration for Justice and Reconciliation, a collective vision for ensuring that any peace in Yemen must be rooted in justice, truth, and reconciliation.

Today, as the Yemen Peace Forum, in collaboration with the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, launches the Transitional Justice Week, we reaffirm our shared vision, born out of persistent and accumulating grievances, and reiterate our urgent demands for justice.

In the current moment of regional upheaval and escalating instability, the imperative to lay the groundwork for a just and lasting peace in Yemen could not be more urgent. We continue to insist that reconciliation without justice is no reconciliation at all, and that ignoring the grievances of the people of Yemen will only perpetuate the very conditions that led to conflict.

The Declaration emerged from decades of unresolved grievances and recurring cycles of violence in Yemen. It advocates for a vision of a transitional justice process that places victims and survivors at its center.

The path forward must include truth-telling, reparations, accountability for grave violations, guarantees of non-recurrence, and memorialization. We therefore:

• • • Reiterate the vision, guiding principles, and demands articulated in the Yemen Declaration for Justice and Reconciliation.
    • Call on Yemeni parties, regional actors, and the international community to ensure that transitional justice is central to all peace initiatives and negotiations.
    • Affirm the pivotal role of Yemeni civil society in shaping and advancing an inclusive, locally-owned, participatory, and victim-centered vision for justice and reconciliation.
    • Invite Yemeni civil society actors that have not yet endorsed the Declaration to become signatories; and encourage all to continue advancing transitional justice principles through their own efforts and capacities.

The Yemen Declaration remains a living document and a unifying platform for Yemeni civil society. On this occasion, we reaffirm our collective resolve to breaking cycles of impunity and building a just and lasting peace in Yemen.