A statement of the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June 2024

The Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture condemns in the strongest terms all perpetrators of torture crimes in Yemen.

The Yemeni Center also condemns the ongoing torture and serious crimes against civilians, abductees, journalists, activists and employees of local and international organizations committed by Yemenis parties to conflict, mainly Houthis militia which has tortured thousands of civilians and committed thousands of crimes against abductees that killed more than 4 hundreds of them.

The number of torture victims who were subjected to different horrific torture types in Yemen has reached unprecedented levels resulted in different cases of disability of some abductees, as with Abdullah Ash-shanafi who became fully paralyzed as a result of severe torture in Houthis militia’s jails, and Jamal Al-Mamari and Ans As-srari who are paraplegic, in addition to dozens of abductees who have similar cases of disabilities and injuries resulted from severe torture in Houthis secret jails such as national security jail, political security jail and other Houthis jails that are in their control provinces.

The ill-treatment the abductees were subjected to demands the standing of international community and human rights organizations against it, as well as moving by Yemeni legitimate government and local and international media means, and isn’t unacceptable to compromise or justify such crimes under any conditions.

We, the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture, on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture renew our calling for putting an end to torture and prosecution of offenders. As we feel sorry for the suffering of victims, we reaffirm our commitment to standing against all types of torture and ill-treatment committed by any party. The severe and systematic torture that caused severe pain to the abductees and forcibly disappeared was used as a form of intimidation, extract confessions, and confiscation freedoms against social figures, political and rights activists and journalists. Even hundreds of children and women have not escaped torture amidst the silence of the international community. We also feel sorry for ongoing torture, mistreatment and oppressive acts against women in Houthis militia’s jails embodied in the cases of Fatimah Al-arwali and Intsar Al-hamadi.

We, the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture, follow with grave concern Houthis militia’s crackdowns on civil society, and employees of local and international organizations resulted in arbitrarily arresting of many them, demanding the UN to put pressure on Houthis to immediately release all abductees without any conditions and stop all kinds of brutal torture against abductees. We also emphasize the need for protecting local and international human rights workers, IDPs and marginalized (ethnic group of dark skinned) who are suffering from racial discrimination

We, the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture, call on the UN and the Security Council to apply pressure on perpetrators of such heinous crimes and to take the urgent necessary measures to ensure non-impunity and to hold perpetrators accountable, as the impunity is a key reason for the continued such crimes against abductees in Yemen. (If one knows there is no punishment, one will misbehave)

We, the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture, demand the UN and the Security Council to take their responsibility for ensuring justice for all victims, emphasizing that accountability and justice must be an integral part of the ongoing peace negotiations and among the priorities of the transitional justice, which we cannot relinquish.

Issued by the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture.

June 26, 2024

Republic of Yemen