NGO Joint Statement – All Youth Network and Al-Amail Association Item VI Good morning everybody, Thank you for giving me the floor. Marginalised groups or what we normally call the [‘aktam’] are a black-skinned community of Ethiopian origin. They live in slum-dwellings. Their dwellings are concentrated closely together and are often called “dog-sheds” or “containers”. They are built on the outskirts of large towns such as Sana’a, Aden and along the coast. This marginalised category has no work. And they do jobs which are socially humiliating, such as sewage cleaners, pig farmers and so on. These marginalised categories do not have decent housing. 80 per cent of them live in slums and small cabins, and do not even have [deeds of title] to the land on which they build and makeshift cabins. As to housing in fact they lack everything. They also lack the most elementary services such as sewage, water, and electricity. Public works are sometimes situated very close to the dwellings of these poor people that under the pre-text that these people do not have deeds of title to prove that they live on this ground, they have no access to services delivered to their homes. 98 per cent of them have infectious diseases. Unemployment has thrived amidst these categories, without forgetting the fact that 80 per cent of the workers are child labourers or young children between 7 and 20 years, of course some are young adults. They do menial jobs, which bring them in at maximum 1 and a half dollars a day. We do have a few recommendations to make, first, that the government take ideal measures to deal with direct and indirect discrimination and to enable this marginalised group to take access to work, health, social security and education. Secondly, that measures be taken to deal with discrimination and put an end to the disparities faced by these marginalised groups vis-à-vis the rest of society. Laws and legislation are necessary for these marginalised persons to have access to social services. Thirdly, the government must compile detailed data in order to take a census of the numbers of these marginalised persons so that ultimately their right to work can be recognised. That an end can be put to their tragic situation and so that they can have access to education, health and work. Thank you.