Bahrain: Safia’s hunger strike led her to hospital
The Ministry of Housing refuses to provide her a residence while she is dying.

Manama, 18 July 2007

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is highly concerned by the developments of the case of Safia Ahmed Ali, 36, from Al-Deer “Al-Muharraq” village. The Bahraini citizen is still calling upon the Ministry of Housing to provide her and her daughter Mariam, 10 years-old, with an adequate house. For this goal, she launched a hunger strike on Tuesday 17 July 2007 at 9:00 a.m.

“I am tired of continuous striking near the Ministry of Housing. I did not receive any positive response from ministry officials up till now. So, I decided to launch a hunger strike until I have a response,” Safia told BYSHR.

BYSHR representatives visited Safia on the first day of hunger strike. She seemed pale and severely tired because of the strike. The representatives also noticed that civil security vehicles were intensively spread all over strike venue.

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HIC Website

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Please, send your letters, emails, and/or faxes to the following list:

Ban ki-Moon
UN Secretary-General
UN Headquarters
UN Plaza

New York NY 10017, United States
E-mail: ecu@un.org, coi@un.org

H.E. Sir Emyr Jones Parry
President of the UN Security Council

Telephone : (1) 212 308 57 00
Fax : (1) 212 355 2763
E-mail : france-presse@un.int

Note: Do not forget to tell us what you did in support of the HIC

Bahrain: The Prime Minister is granted an international award for housing while a woman sleeps on roadside because she has no house

Manama, 5 June 2007

Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is highly concerned by the sufferings of Safia Ahmed Ali, 36 from Al-Deer “Al-Muharraq” village. Safia is homeless and the Ministry of Housing refuses to give her an adequate house. It is noteworthy that Safia launched a sit-in near the Ministry of Housing since the Bahraini Prime Minister was grant Housing and Human Development Award
.

“I launched a sit-in near the Ministry of Housing since five days ago on Saturday 30 June 2007. My daughter Mariam, 10 years-old, joined me for two days but she could not continue because of the very hot weather. Therefore, I took her to one of my relatives and then I came back to continue my strike. I decided not to move from here and I had to sleep on roadside,” Safia told BYSHR.

BYSHR representatives visited the woman’s sit-in venue near the Ministry of Housing and they discovered that she is under continues strike and she got few things to sleep on which will cause her health problems.

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Sandeep Singh Grewal
Staff Reporter

This is summer, a time when people stay indoors to avoid the scorching heat.
But Safiya Ahmed Ali Yousif and her 10-year-old daughter Mariam cannot do that. They have no home of their own.
The mother-daughter duo have been spending nights in front of the Ministry of Works and Housing for the past three days to press for a housing.

Now they plan to go on a hunger strike.
Safiya has been demanding a government house or an apartment from the ministry.
The 36-year-old divorcee has has put banners, calling on the ministry to provide her with a housing unit.
“She is determined to go on hunger strike till the authorities take action. They issued statements to the media that they would help my aunt in solving her problem. But things remain the same and she has been sleeping on the road with Mariam” said Hussain Al Qallaf, a relative.

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Mr. Joseph Schechla
Coordinator of Housing and Land Rights Network in Middle East and North Africa – Egypt
Habitat International Coalition – Netherlands

Manama, 3 July 2007

Kindest regards from Bahrain,

We would like to praise your work for protecting housing and land rights. You are the international authority responsible for providing appropriate housing for citizens and protecting lands of general property nature worldwide.

Mr. Schechla,
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is a member of Habitat International Coalition (HIC). The common message of HIC is “to perfectly protect the human dignity and development for respecting the right to adequate housing and land and to defend, promote and fulfill this right.”

Mr. Schechla,
Bahrain is suffering several problems. The most important are:

1. The lack of adequate housing for Bahraini citizens, and
2. Seizing the publicly owned lands for royal family members

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