On Wednesday, the office of the President of Yemen sent a draft of a national reconciliation and transitional justice law to the NDC’s National Issues and Transitional Justice Working Group.

In a meeting, a recently formed sub-committee discussed a final report on the working group’s activities over the past two months.

Group Chairman Abdul Bari Dughaish said the draft report included demands for the acceptance of political pluralism and democratic reforms by way of peaceful power succession, as opposed allowing bloody conflicts dictate the terms of political replacements.

The draft report also called for a study to be conducted on the history of political conflicts in north Yemen since 1962 and in the south from 1967. According to the draft, such a reevaluation of Yemen’s political history would allow for lessons to be learned from past conflicts and facilitate efforts to fairly compensate the victims of such conflicts.

“The Working Group stresses the importance of building a neutral national army and security force, with stipulations that they must not interfere in politics and must only focus on protecting the nation’s sovereignty and social peace,” said Dughaish.

The draft further called for an investigation into enforced disappearances, reparations for victims and the taking of necessary measures to prevent repeated tragedies which result from conflicts.

Dughaish said the report would call on the government to develop a counterterrorism strategy that takes into account national needs and that is culturally sensitive.

He added that the report would also state the need for a strategy for responding to the needs of displaced citizens, as well as a body charged with recovering funds and lands which have been illegally confiscated.