The Information Center calls for an end to enforced disappearance and the prosecution of its perpetrators
_ The Houthi militia has made Yemen the worst country in the crimes of enforced disappearance
_ 150 abductees and forcibly disappeared persons in Taiz this year
Taiz / Special:
The Human Rights Information and Training Center (hritc) said that enforced disappearance has become a phenomenon that is increasing every day in Yemen.
The Center confirmed in a statement today on the occasion of the United Nations celebration of the International Day against Enforced Disappearances, which falls on August 30 of each year.
That (the use of enforced disappearance as a strategic method to spread terror within the community, the feeling of insecurity that this practice generates is not limited to the relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their local population groups and their society as a whole).
The Center, a regional organization that holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, called for the issue of enforced disappearance in Yemen to be given a special priority, as this phenomenon is constantly increasing and raises serious concerns.
HRITC referred to the reports of the Center and the international and local human rights organizations that worked in Yemen and gave this issue great attention, especially with the Houthi militia’s entrenchment of the method of kidnapping citizens, not only those who oppose it, under extremely harsh conditions and making the detention of citizens in unknown places a method of extortion and systematic violence against specific groups of citizens.
The center’s statement indicated that what increases the justified state of concern is that the various parties in other governorates such as Aden, Taiz, and Marib have committed concealment crimes, although the Houthi militia remains the most violent and powerful in this file, according to the center’s statement.
Enforced disappearance has become a global problem and is no longer confined to a specific region of the world.
Whereas in the past, this phenomenon was mainly the product of military dictatorships, today enforced disappearance can occur in complex conditions of an internal conflict, or be used in particular as a means of political pressure on opponents, as happens in Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, for example.
Of particular concern are the continued harassment of human rights defenders, victims’ relatives, witnesses, and lawyers dealing with cases of enforced disappearance.
Yemen has taken the lead in kidnapping activists and journalists and hiding them in secret places and under brutal torture conditions. Houthi forces in the areas of Sana’a, Dhamar, and North (Al-Saleh City Prison in Taiz) have the worst types of places of death for missing persons estimated at thousands.
The Information Center was able to document 150 cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance in Taiz governorate from January 1 to July 30 of this year 2021, of which the Houthi militia committed 137 cases and 7 cases were committed by militants outside the framework of the state. The joint forces of Tariq Saleh kidnapped 3 civilians, and members of the government army hid 2 civilians Unidentified gunmen kidnapped one civilian.
The Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC) said that it is unfortunate that states use counter-terrorism activities as a pretext for violating their obligations, and that this argument has reached its use even by armed militias outside the scope of the state.
The center called for the need for effective and rapid international action at the level of the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to follow up on the perpetrators of these crimes, and it became unacceptable that the perpetrators of enforced disappearances continue to enjoy widespread impunity.
Particular attention should be paid to certain groups of vulnerable populations, such as children and people with disabilities.
Hundreds of thousands have disappeared during conflict or periods of persecution in at least 85 countries around the world.
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Taiz – 30 August 2021
