Slavery in Yemen
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Slavery in Yemen (Arabic: العبودية في اليمن) was formally abolished in the 1960s. However, it has been reported that enslavement still occurred in the 21st-century.
Chattel slavery in Yemen was abolished in two stages between 1962 and 1967. The 1962 revolution in Yemen lead to the abolition of slavery by the government in North Yemen, but slavery in South Yemen was not abolished until the socialist National Liberation Front (NFL) took power when the British left in 1967. Al-Muhamashīn are descendants of the former slaves.
Yemen is in Arabia, and is a mostly Arab country. Yemen is considered a developing country, and has been in a state of political crisis since 2011. It was reported that at least 85,000 people were enslaved in Yemen in 2022, and due to the impossibility of conducting further surveys in the midst of the ongoing civil war, this number may be underestimated. The Houthi movement have been accused of restoring slavery to Yemen.
Not unlike previous times, slaves are inherited by their owners through family, as well as being bought and sold. It has been reported that two main types of slavery currently exist in Yemen. The first is human trafficking in general, defined as the practice of luring adults or children into an exploitative situation through threats, violence, or deliberate misrepresentation, and then forcing them to perform certain tasks. The second type involves individuals who are not victims of trafficking but who nevertheless experience slavery and abuse. As well as child slavery, it has been discovered that there are also adult slaves who are controlled by their owners, who work in private homes, made to perform certain tasks.