Slavery in Yemen

In the Middle ages, the majority of slaves appeared to have been of African origin, but there were also enslaved people of other origins, such as Indians, Europeans and Turkish people, as well as an illegal enslavement of Arabs despite the fact that Islamic rules banned the enslavement of other muslims.[2]

In the 13th-century, Ibn al-Mujāwir, traveler in Yemen, recorded a graphic description of the procedures on the slave market of Aden:[3]

The slave girl is fumigated with an aromatic smoke, perfumed, adorned and a waist-wrapper fastened round her middle. The seller takes her by the hand and walks around the souk [market] with her; he calls out that she is for sale. The wicked merchants appear, examining her hands, feet, calves, thighs, navel, chest and breasts. He examines her back and measures her buttocks in spans. He examines her tongue, teeth, hair and spares no effort. If she is wearing clothes, he takes them off; he examines and looks. Finally, he casts a direct eye over her vagina and anus, without her having on any covering or veil. When he has examined, expressed his approval and bought the slave girl, she remains with him for about ten days. When [the buyer] has taken care of her, had his fill, become bored and tired of her and got what he wanted from her, his lust is at an end. Zayd, the buyer, says to ʿAmr, the vendor, "Indeed, sir, we have a case to settle in court!" So they attend in front of the judge and one makes a claim against the other, [suggesting there is] a defect [in the slave girl].

In the 1760s the Yemeni Hadhrami Arab Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie mass enslaved other Muslims while raiding coastal Borneo in violation of sharia, before he founded the Pontianak Sultanate.[4]

In 1869 the Royal Navy was enforcing a ban on slave trading in the Gulf of Aden and intercepted over 100 Galla slaves that were illegally shipped to Aden from Berbera. Soon after more slaves were discovered at Siyara and Lieutenant Colonel Playfair with the steamer 'Lady Canning' implored the Makahil elders to surrender the slaves. Upon their refusal the Lady Canning would open fire shooting deliberately near the important fort of Siyara. This act of intimidation led the elders to oblige and free the slaves held in the area.[5]

The port town was later on described as being under the possession of the Habr Je'lo:[6]

The last branch of the Western tribes is the Haber el Jahleh, who possess the sea-ports from Seyareh to the ruined village of Rukudah, and as far as the town of Heis. Of these towns, Kurrum is the most important, from its possessing a tolerable harbour, and from its being the nearest point from Aden, the course to which place is N.N.W., consequently the wind is fair, and the boats laden with sheep for the Aden market pass but one night at sea, whilst those from Berbera are generally three. What greatly enhances the value of Kurrum however is its proximity to the country of the Dulbahanta, who approach within four days of Kurrum, and who therefore naturally have their chief trade through that port.

The function of slavery differed depending on if the enslaved person was male, female or a eunuch. [7]

Women were primarily enslaved as harem concubines (sex slaves) or as domestic house slaves.[8] In the middle ages, there were also a minority of slave girls who were trained to become qiyan artist courtesans or slave singing girls. [9]

A Chinese non-Muslim man had a female Indonesian who was of Muslim Arab Hadhrami Sayyid origin in Solo, the Dutch East Indies, in 1913 which was scandalous in the eyes of Ahmad Surkati and his Al-Irshad Al-Islamiya.[10][11]

Eunuchs were the most expensive slaves. In the Middle Ages they mainly came from Africa and undervent tha dangerous operation in Ethiopia before being important to Yemen. Eunuchs were bought by aristocrats and royalty and could be given a number of different assingments: as administrators and agents of the affairs of the harem and royal women, as teachers and care takers of children, and as supervisors of the rest of the slaves.[12]

Male slaves who were not eunuchs were employed as laborers or as slave soldiers (mamluks).[13]

Part of Yemen was controlled by the British Empire in the 19th- and 20th-century in the form of the Chief Commissioner's Province of Aden (1839–1932) and the Colony of Aden (1937–1963). The British Empire, having signed the 1926 Slavery Convention, was obliged to fight slavery and slave trade in all land under direct or indirect control of the British Empire. However, the British control of Yemen was not complete even in the part of Yemen which was nominally controlled by them. The Colony of Aden was divided into an eastern colony and a western colony. Those were further divided into 23 sultanates and emirates, and several independent tribes that had no relationships with the sultanates. The deal between the sultanates and Britain detailed protection and complete control of foreign relations by the British.[14] This limited their actual power to do something about slavery.

In 1936, the British authorities in Aden filed a report about the slavery in Yemen. The British raport had information of between 5.000 to 10.000 slaves in a population of three million.[15] The majority of the slaves were either trafficked from Africa, or born to enslaved Africans in Yemen, and a small minority of the slaves where Caucasian.[16] Most of the male slaves were Africans, occupied in agricultural work or as soldiers. [16] Egypt and Hejaz were also the recipients of Indian women trafficked via Aden and Goa.[17][18] Since Britain banned the slave trade in its colonies, 19th century British ruled Aden was no longer a recipient of slaves and the slaves sent from Ethiopia to Arabia were shipped to Hejaz instead.[19]

The British, obliged by the 1926 Slavery Convention to abolish all practice of slavery in the British Empire, did not abolish the slavery as an institution in Yemen, but managed to free many slaves by buying them, manumitting them, and relocating them within the British Empire.[15]

The worldwide abolition of slavery began in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted in 1789, and stated "men are born and remain free and equal in rights." By the nineteenth century, an increasing number of countries such as The Netherlands were banning participation with the African Slave Trade, and soon after abolished slavery in all of its colonies, along with France. By the 1900s, abolition of slavery was spreading globally, with countries such as Burma and Sierra Leone following the movement.[20]

After World War II, there was a growing international pressure from the United Nations to end the slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula. In 1948, the United Nations declared slavery to be a crime against humanity in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (DHR), after which the Anti-Slavery Society pointed out that there were about one million slaves in the Arabian Peninsula, which was a crime against the 1926 Slavery Convention, and demanded that the UN form a committee to handle the issue.[21]

In 1962, Yemen was one of the last countries worldwide to abolish slavery. Besides this, Yemen is also a member state of the United Nations.[22] All United Nations member states are subject to the UDHR, which specifically says in Article 4, that "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.[23]" This declaration outlines basic rights that all human beings are entitled to. The rights outlined in the declaration become legally enforceable, since they define the terms 'fundamental freedoms' and 'human rights', which themselves feature in the United Nations Charter. All member states of the United Nations are legally obliged to comply with the United Nations Charter.[24]

Besides this, the 1926 Slavery Convention also exists, which at its creation aimed to prevent slavery, and the slave trade. It specifically defined what slavery and the slave trade were, and all participants agreed to prevent, and gradually eliminate all slavery that existed within their country, and also to create penalties for anyone found to be slave trading, or involved in the control of a slave. As of 1987, Yemen became a party to this convention, meaning they agreed with the aim of it, and agreed to the obligations it imposed upon parties.[25]

While not all slaves in Yemen were of African origin, there developed racist stereotypes in Yemen associating black skin with slavery, and this contributed to a discrimination of people with African origin also after the abolition of slavery.[26]

A likely cause of the existing slavery in Yemen with regards to the illegality of it, is the extent of the poverty within certain communities. Abdulhadi Al-Azazi, a member of the team investigating slavery in Yemen, suggested that because of the levels of poverty, affected people may enable themselves to be controlled by wealthy people in order to have a better quality of life than what they can provide for themselves.[29]

Another possible factor in the existence of slavery in Yemen is government corruption, as slavery is easy to get away with, and no real steps are taken to put a stop to it, which is what was seen in the investigation mentioned earlier in this article. Besides this, the slavery cycle is difficult to get out of when there is no government intervention, or real awareness by the public and other countries as to what is going on, which is part of the cause of slavery in Yemen. If people are not aware of what is happening, they cannot do anything about it. The slavery cycle has been described as poverty, followed by slavery, then as a result lack of education, and therefore no kind of freedom at all. This means any children of existing slaves are led to believe the same as their parents – that they are not entitled to freedom and they must do as they are told by their owners.[31] In 2019, during the Yemeni Civil War, there were allegations of the Houthis supporting the restoration of slavery.[32]