The report, Land Tenure for Social andEconomic Inclusion in Yemen: Issues and Opportunities wascompleted in December 2009. The report addresses theproblems of land ownership in Yemen and the various socialand economic problems associated with the system of landownership.Property rights under Yemeni Law are expressedboth in custom and statute, but both are informed by shari a(Islamic law), which provides the basic property categoriesfor land in Yemen. There are unfortunately no reliableofficial statistics for the amount of land within thesecategories, or how much arable land (a small percentage oftotal land area) falls within each. It is clear however thatcertain groups suffer from disadvantages in accessing landand land rights. Daughters are disadvantaged by shari arules which limit their inheritance shares to only half thatof a son. Youth, unable to inherit until the demise of theirparents and lacking the capital to buy land, lack access toland and other employment opportunities, which endangerssocial stability. There are occupational castes (artisans)who are discriminated in land holdings and ethnicminorities, former slaves and immigrants from East Africa,who lack access to land, and especially land ownership,limiting them to the most menial labor. Amongst therecommendations the report addresses are; the law on stateland and compulsory acquisition of land by the state arerelatively recent and are in general in line with currentbest practices. There is however some fundamental problemsin its legal delineation of state land. First and foremost,there is a need to provide a clearer distinction betweenstate and communal land. In addition, it is clear thatimplementation of the law concerning state land is badlyflawed, and that there are abuses in terms of uncompensatedland takings and illegal appropriations of state lands forprivate purposes. The law concerning private ownership ofland is satisfactory in most respects. Yemen has a longtradition of private ownership and land and rental markets.Those markets are clearly quite active, at least in areaswhere the economic basis for such market activity exists.The right of pre-emption in Yemeni law, a shari ainstitution, has been criticized by some commentators, butmore recent scholarship recognizes its value.Waqf mayoffend the economic sensibilities of market economists inthat waqf land is permanently held out of the land (sales)market, but it does move in rental markets and in thecircumstances of Yemen it performs strong social functions.It supports important public functions and provides accessto land for the poor but is increasingly negatively affectedby weak supervision and corrupt practices. Tenancies are animportant means of access to land in Yemen, especially forthe poor, and their relatively stable terms stable termsunder customary rules have historically provided areasonable degree of tenure security. Post-land reformissues remain a problem in the southern governorates.Improving the system for recording of land rights has been afocus of law reform discussions in Yemen in recent years.Women are clearly disadvantaged by the terms of inheritancelaw, and even more greatly disadvantaged by the failure inpractice to realize their limited rights under that law. Thesituation of disadvantaged ethnic groups deserves priorityattention. Their lack of secure access to land, especiallyowned land, is a violation of the humanitarian values ofIslam and condemns them to continuing poverty. There isgrowing competition for land. This is driven in some partsof the country by the development of new water technologieswhich have enabled larger- scale cultivation and createdeconomic opportunities. It is clear that land disputeresolution mechanisms are not functioning well.
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