Human Rights Watch on Sunday required that the Houthi authorities, who have systematically detained more than 70 United Nations staff members in Yemen over the course of two years, release them immediately, pointing out that they were detained on baseless charges of spying for Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Diala Haidar, Yemen researcher at Amnesty International, highlighted the severity of the crisis, saying:
The ongoing crackdown on public spaces in northern Yemen, in which the Houthis have detained scores of people, including humanitarian workers, human rights defenders, journalists and activists, must end… All of this arbitrarily arrested should be released immediately. Until they are released, Houthi authorities must ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment and that they have access to health care and legal advice, as well as regular contact with their families.
The HouthisA heavily armed political and militant organization that controls most of northern Yemen and acts as a government agency has been heavily criticized by human rights groups in recent years for its constant attacks on civilians and perpetration of sexual violence. In October 2023, it was first reported that an aid worker, Hisham Al-Hakimi, died held incommunicado in a detention center. At the end of May 2024, Houthi rebels had unlawful 13 UN employees and another 50 employees from various organizations were captured, a statistic that has only increased in two years.
At the beginning of 2025, a UN employee died in Houthi custody suspicious circumstancesThis led to pressure for an independent investigation into the harsh living conditions of imprisoned aid workers in the country. This devastating pattern of arbitrary detention of aid workers continues to undermine humanitarian response in a country plagued by war-related famine, cutting off millions of starving civilians from food, clean water and access to medical treatment.
The primary motivation The reason Houthi rebels are detaining aid workers is their desire to use these individuals as leverage in political negotiations and to exercise complete control over the distribution of humanitarian aid. For example, the time when the United States and global organizations are deciding on terrorist designation or economic sanctions coincides with a surge in detentions, a clear example of how aid workers are viewed as political pawns.
The main problem hampering proper rescue efforts is that responders are held in top-secret and decentralized detention centers and many of them are barred from communicating with their families and colleagues. Additionally, Human Rights Watch has criticized the culture of fear created by the Houthis, routinely labeling these workers as such covert spies They work for Western forces, which in turn strengthens their operations.
The unlawful detention of persons is prohibited under international law, in particular Article 9 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Yemen is a party.
