Legal Affairs Minister Muhammad Al-Mikhlafi delivered a lecture based on the drafting of Yemen’s transitional justice law to the NDC’s National Issues and Transitional Justice Working Group on Tuesday.

He said the justification for issuing a draft of the law before the dialogue conference began was for the pardon law to be first referred to Parliament; it was later agreed upon by the parties which signed the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered power transfer deal.

“Some realized that the transitional justice law should include the pardon law since the goal was to promote national reconciliation,” he said.

Al-Mikhlafi stated that the second justification for issuing a draft of the law at that point was to convince groups and victims of political conflicts that relevant actions were being taken.

“We wanted the NDC to be held in high esteem by all people, and especially to let conflict victims know that there would be serious efforts to address human rights violations and enable the NDC to identify transitional justice guidelines,” he added. 

According to Al-Mikhlafi, the third justification was to enable the flow beneficial international support for the matter of transitional justice in Yemen.

Al-Mikhlafi said the relationship between transitional justice and national reconciliation was based first on the achievement of national consensus and second on reconciling all societal groups.

Regarding the timeframe for implementing transitional justice, he said there should be a focus on the inclusion of all victims.

Speaking about enforced disappearances, Al-Mikhlafi said people deserve to know about the fate of those who disappeared, as well as what damages were suffered as a result.

“The torture of victims is continuous, and meanwhile the victims’ absences affect their families… in both cases, the damage continues,” he said.

Regarding the matter of immunity given to the former regime as part of the GCC-brokered power-transfer deal, Al-Mikhlafi said that complete immunity was provided only for former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

“Not one of Saleh’s aides was given immunity,” he said.

Al-Mikhlafi said that under the transitional justice law, an equity and reconciliation body would be set up.  The NDC would play a role in identifying guidelines for such a body.

“Women will have 30% representation in the body, and victims will have about 25% representation,” he said.