1954 -
First Yemeni minister for human rights.
Wahiba Farʾa, born in 1954 in Taʿiz, Yemen, was the first woman as full cabinet member in the Yemeni government. She acted as the minister of state for human rights during 2001 - 2003. She was the first minister in this new ministry, which was established in 2001. She is a prominent women's rights activist and scholar. Farʾa received her B.A. in English literature from Sanʿa University, continued her studies at Cairo University with a specialization in women's education, and earned her Ph.D. in Cairo (philosophy). She worked as a lecturer at Sanʿa University while conducting research on women and development, women in higher education, child labor, and polygamy in migration. Farʾa is the founder and rector of Queen Arwa University in Sanʿa (established in 1996) and dean of Yemen International Language Institute (established in 1989, and now a department of the university). She is a member of the Supreme National Committee for Human Rights and the ruling People's General Congress Party. As a minister, Farʾa made women's rights, prison reform, and the rights of children and people with disabilities key priorities. The minister was confronted with challenges: a record of human rights abuses, an independent judiciary that limits freedom of the press, and a civil society proposing a large number of human rights initiatives.
— SUSANNE DAHLGREN
