The more than 60 men and women detained are all Yemeni nationals. They include 13 UN staff and members of civil society, local and international NGOs, diplomatic missions and private sector organisations.
In addition, there were four other staff members from the UN human rights office, OHCHRand its cultural institutions, UNESCOhave been held since 2021 and 2023 respectively.
The humanitarian situation is dire.
Yemeni government forces, backed by a Saudi Arabian coalition, have been fighting the Houthis, also known as the Ansar Allah movement, for a decade.
The United Nations continues to monitor the worrying humanitarian and development situation in the country.
More than 18 million people, more than half the population, are suffering from food insecurity, disease, displacement, damaged infrastructure and economic hardship.
Not the goal
“The United Nations is working tirelessly to address the impact of the situation on the people of Yemen, but the safety of our staff must be guaranteed,” speak The Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, speaks at a daily press briefing from New York.
He stressed that the United Nations and its partners “should never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their mandate.”
UN human rights office returned
The UN Secretary-General also strongly condemned the recent Houthi incursion into the OHCHR office in the capital Sana’a.
Mr. Dujarric noted that the office was handed over to the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Julien Harneis, on Monday. He reported that the office appeared to be in its original state, but that an inventory was currently being conducted.
“The Resident Coordinator said we are heartened by this move and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained United Nations staff, NGOs and civil society workers,” the Spokesperson told journalists.
