The Yemeni government has renewed its call for the United Nations and all international agencies to move their headquarters to the temporary capital, Aden, in order to ensure a safe and suitable environment for these organizations to work and provide their humanitarian services to all Yemenis in all Yemeni regions without obstacles or restrictions.
In a message addressed to the President of the UN Security Council, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea, Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, which was circulated to the members of the Council, the Yemeni government expressed its strong condemnation of the Houthi militia’s kidnapping of dozens of employees of UN agencies, international and local non-governmental organizations operating in Yemen in recent days, in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a direct threat to the lives, safety and security of these employees.
The government affirmed in its statement that the soft power policy pursued by the United Nations and the international community with the Houthi militia during the past years has encouraged these terrorist militias to continue their grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. It called on the esteemed Security Council, the United Nations and the rest of the international community to take urgent action to pressure the Houthi militia to ensure the safety of the detainees and release them immediately and without conditions.
The Yemeni government also called on the Security Council and the international community, as well as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Yemen and the organizations concerned with human rights, to bear their legal and moral responsibilities and to condemn these criminal practices, strongly and clearly, as a flagrant violation of national laws, international laws and covenants and to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that they do not escape punishment, and to pressure the Houthi militia to release all abductees, detainees and forcibly disappeared persons in its prisons.
The statement pointed out that the terrorist Houthi militia raided the homes of a number of activists and the headquarters of international and local organizations, and kidnapped a number of employees of these organizations, and confiscated their electronic devices. It noted that according to reliable reports and information, the number of those kidnapped so far has reached more than 50 employees of international and local organizations, including four women, one of whom was arrested with her husband and children, and the campaign is still ongoing, and to this day the families of the kidnapped do not know anything about their conditions.
The statement drew attention to the fact that the Houthi militia issued a death sentence against 44 people on charges of espionage, which are illegal political judgments that did not receive the slightest trial procedures, and lawyers were not able to see the case files to defend the accused, and the accused were subjected to the most severe forms of torture, enforced disappearance and deprivation of family visits or contact with them. It explained that these arrests come as part of a series of crimes and violations and fabrication of charges against activists, opponents and employees that have been ongoing for years by the Houthi militia.
The statement said, “The Yemeni government has repeatedly warned, for years, of the dangers of turning a blind eye to the violations of the Houthi militia and its criminal practices, blackmail and pressure methods it practices on humanitarian organizations operating in Yemen, which the Houthi militia seeks through them to serve its illegal political agenda and exploit humanitarian aid to serve its security and military goals, and to turn the areas under its control into large prisons for anyone who opposes its policies.”
Source: https://pmo-ye.net/post/7571
