Eid comes each year as a moment in which we recover some ofthe warmth of human feeling, renew the bonds that unite us, and jointlyremember that joy — however difficult it may be to reach — remains a simpleright that people cling to in order to continue on. On this blessed occasion,Mwatana for Human Rights extends its sincere congratulations to Yemenis inparticular, and to Muslims everywhere, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, prayingthat Allah grant us more days of peace and tranquility.
Eid is not merely a recurring date on the calendar or a setof formal rituals to be passed over lightly; it is a distinctive spiritualmoment that calls us to solidarity and advocacy and prompts us to think ofthose for whom Eid is heavy with absence, loss, and grief. It is a moment inwhich we recall those arbitrarily detained and those forcibly disappeared, farfrom their loved ones and from families who wait anxiously for news to dispelthe loneliness of uncertainty, and the children who cannot fathom the absencethat weighs upon their small lives. We also remember the thousands of displacedpersons whom the war forced to leave their homes and cities, now striving tomake a life in camps and conditions they never chose.
Eid is a time to confront the conscience that refuses toaccept injustice or to tolerate the normalization of violations into asystematic repressive practice. Rejecting these violations should not be theexclusive domain of human rights activists and those concerned withhumanitarian affairs, nor should denunciation and solidarity be preceded bytwisted questions about the victims’ political or geographic affiliations. Wemust all reject every violation, by any party, and stand with all thoseaffected by such practices and abuses without discrimination or selection.
This Eid, our joy is incomplete, our celebration tinged withpain, and our demand is one: we refuse the continuation of these atrocities.
As with every Eid, we reaffirm our commitment to theprinciples of human rights and to striving for a future in which rights andfreedoms are protected, justice is respected, and enjoyment of dignity becomesa right accessible to everyone without exception — a right that admits nocompromise or diminution.
Wishing you all a blessed Eid
