The UN says it is “using all available channels” to ensure the safe release of its personnel “as soon as possible”.
Yemen’s Houthi group is holding at least 11 United Nations staff members, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, calling for the unconditional release of the staff members.
Dujarric said Friday that the UN was seeking clarification from the Houthis on why the Yemeni employees were detained. The two women and nine men work for five different UN agencies and the UN envoy for Yemen.
“We are using all available means to ensure the safe and unconditional release of each of them as quickly as possible,” Dujarric said, adding that the UN also wanted access to personnel.
In a series of raids, armed Houthi intelligence agents also arrested three employees of the US-funded pro-democracy group National Democratic Institute (NDI) and three employees of a local human rights group. man, three officials from Yemen’s internationally recognized government told Reuters on Friday. .
Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the detentions, saying the Yemeni group’s refusal to disclose the whereabouts of those detained “may amount to enforced disappearance” under international law.
.@A spokesperson: “We can confirm that the de facto Houthi authorities have arrested 11 United Nations national staff working in #Yemen. We are using all available means to ensure the safe and unconditional release of all, as quickly as possible. »@OSE_Yemen pic.twitter.com/lPqQOdvhy2
— United Nations Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (@UNDPPA) June 7, 2024
“The Houthis should immediately release all UN employees and those of other independent groups they have detained for their human rights and humanitarian work and stop arbitrarily detaining and disappearing strength of people,” Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at HRW, said in a statement.
“Such detentions not only undermine the rights of these individuals, but also undermine essential humanitarian and human rights work in Yemen, at a time when the majority of Yemenis do not have adequate access to basic necessities. like food and water. »
The reasons for these detentions remain unclear. But this apparent repression comes at a time of heightened tensions and questions about the sustainability of the relative calm between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government.
Last month, the government asked all banks to move their headquarters to the southern city of Aden, a move that could put additional economic pressure on areas controlled by the Houthis. The Houthis control the capital Sanaa and present themselves as the country’s legitimate authorities.
Bloomberg News reported Thursday that Washington is considering blocking major elements of a United Nations peace plan adopted in December by Yemen’s warring parties unless the Houthis stop their attacks on international shipping.
Since November, the Yemeni group has launched drone and missile strikes against ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, a campaign it says is aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war against Gaza, which killed more than 36,000 Palestinians.
In a statement on social media platform international”.
Former employees of the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, which closed in 2015, were also arrested and detained by the Houthis.