Yemen: Human rights organizations call on the Houthis to release detained UN and civil society employees

Local and international human rights organizations called on Tuesday on the Houthi militia, classified as a terrorist organization, to immediately release arbitrarily detained UN and civil society employees and stop suppressing civil work.

This came in a joint statement by 24 organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Gulf Center for Human Rights.

The statement, published by Amnesty International , urgently called on the international community "to do everything in its power to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, including UN staff and civil society organizations."

The organizations stressed the need for the Houthis to release the eight UN employees who were arbitrarily detained between January 23 and 25, 2025, in addition to dozens of UN employees and workers in Yemeni and international organizations who have been arbitrarily detained since June 2024.

“The latest wave of arrests is part of an ongoing campaign by the Houthis against human rights and humanitarian workers,” the statement said. “On 31 May 2024, the Houthis carried out a series of raids in areas under their control, arresting 13 UN staff and at least 50 Yemeni and international civil society workers. To date, only three (one UN staff member and two NGO workers) have been released, while the rest continue to be held without access to a lawyer or family visits, and without charge.”

He added: “On 24 January 2025, a statement from the Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Relief in Yemen confirmed the arrest of UN staff, including staff from the World Health Organization ( WHO ) and UNICEF. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned these arrests, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.

The statement stressed that the Houthi crimes continue “in a disturbing pattern of repression of civil society in Yemen, and the violent targeting of human rights and humanitarian workers, on fabricated charges of ‘espionage.’” In August 2024, the Houthi Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation ( SCMCHA ) renewed the Houthis’ restrictive policies on humanitarian activities during five days of meetings with UN and international NGO staff, warning them of the dangers of “espionage” that could be exploited in the context of humanitarian work.

“Coinciding with the wave of arrests on May 31, 2024, a Houthi-led media campaign was launched accusing humanitarian organizations and their employees of ‘conspiring’ against the country’s interests,” he added. On June 10, 2024, the Houthi security and intelligence apparatus announced the “discovery” of what it described as a “spy network.” Two days later, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV channel broadcast a video showing a group of detainees who had been held between 2021 and 2023, without being allowed to communicate with the outside world since then, “confessing” to spying.

The statement stressed that "because the Houthis have a shameful record of using torture to extract 'confessions', there are concerns that these detainees were coerced into making these confessions."

The statement said that since 2015, several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, and the Gulf Center for Human Rights, have documented dozens of unfair trials of journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, and members of religious minorities before the Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa on trumped-up espionage charges, which are punishable by death under Yemeni law. “In all of these cases, Houthi prosecutors appear to have used the charge of ‘espionage’ as a means of suppressing political opponents and silencing peaceful dissent.”

He added, "It is worth noting that on June 1, 2024, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced 44 individuals to death on charges of espionage in an unfair mass trial, 16 of them in absentia, and 28 appeared before the Specialized Criminal Court."

The statement pointed out that these waves of arrests exacerbate the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, where at least 80% of the population depends on aid, according to the United Nations, recalling that due to the recent arrests, the United Nations announced the suspension of all official movements within and around areas under Houthi control. This decision will severely affect the provision of vital aid to millions.

The organizations concluded their statement by calling on the international community, and in particular countries in contact with the Houthis, to do everything in their power to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained, including human rights and humanitarian workers.