Will Houthi militias keep their promises to release UN employees?

16th April 2022

1 minute read

Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilize more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities, on January 3, 2017. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

The United Nations has confirmed that the Houthi militia has yet to fulfill its promises to release two of its employees held in Sanaa for five months.

In a briefing to the UN Security Council the day before yesterday, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths noted five months after two UN staff members were detained by the Houthis, and the militias had earlier promised to release them, according to Yemen News.

He spoke of UN efforts to secure the release of five employees kidnapped in Abyan, southern Yemen, since last February.

“The UN has not received any information on the charges against them, the legal justification for their detention, or even information on their current status, despite previous assurances by the Houthis that they would be immediately released”, said a joint statement by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Methyl Bachelet.

Houthi terrorist militias had detained, along with UN employees, a number of human rights activists and international relief workers, in addition to a number of US embassy employees.

The militias did not bring the detainees to trial, confirming that the detentions were arbitrary and without legal basis.