The National Commission to Investigate Launches its 13th Periodic Report on Human Rights Violations in Yemen.

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Arabian Sea - Yemen - Follow-ups: The National Committee to Investigate Allegations of Human Rights Violations launched its thirteenth periodic report today, Thursday, covering the period from August 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025. The report documented 3,003 cases of violations affecting 3,766 victims of both genders, including women and children, bringing the total documented by the committee since the start of its work in January 2016 until the issuance of this report to 32,953 violations, with a total of 67,538 victims committed by the Houthi group. The report indicated that, despite the challenges, the committee's teams listened to (13,192) witnesses and victims during this period, reviewed (7,768) documents, medical and security reports, and photographic evidence, and carried out field visits that included contact areas and prisons in Aden, Hadramout, Marib, and Shabwa, in addition to affected directorates such as Haifan in Taiz and Al-Musaimir in Lahj, where hundreds of incidents were documented. The committee also organized qualitative hearing sessions for victims of mines, journalists, and victims of torture, affirming its commitment to involving victims in the path of justice and ensuring the establishment of their rights. The report indicated that the most prominent violations during the covered period were (817) incidents of killing and injuring civilians, resulting in (297) deaths, including (43) children and (21) women, and the injury of (693) people, including (149) children and (70) women. The report stated that the committee documented (206) cases of alleged recruitment of children under the age of eighteen, and also recorded (147) incidents of anti-personnel mine explosions, which resulted in the death of (36) civilians, including (4) women and (8) children, and the injury of (101) others, including (3) women and (21) children, and (4) incidents of targeting medical facilities and their staff in different areas and times of the conflict, and (96) incidents of forced displacement, collective and individual, and (695) cases of arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, and (13) incidents of alleged house bombings, and (6) cases of attacks on freedom of opinion and expression, all of which were committed by the Houthi group. The report confirmed that women paid a double price for the conflict, through detention, displacement, and gender-based violence, as well as discriminatory restrictions imposed on their movement and their right to public participation. The report drew attention to the challenges facing work in the field of documentation, investigation, and accountability for human rights violations during this period, most notably restrictions on access to victims and witnesses, and the narrowing of civic space, especially in areas controlled by the Houthi militia, in addition to the weakness of available resources to expand monitoring and documentation activities. The report indicated that the committee strengthened its cooperation with national authorities through meetings with the Presidential Leadership Council and a number of ministers and governors, and participated in international meetings with European Union missions, the US Embassy, and the Arab Group at the Human Rights Council, and presented the outputs of its work in events at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. At the conclusion of its report, the committee called for an immediate cessation of violations, the necessity of immediate adherence to international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the cessation of all forms of violations against civilians, ensuring their full protection, enabling victims to access justice and redress, cooperating with the National Committee for Investigation in order to ensure the success of its tasks, and dealing seriously with its outputs as an independent national tool for accountability. The committee demanded that the Houthi group stop all forms of violations, lift discriminatory restrictions on women, release detainees, abolish punitive economic measures against citizens, release detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, stop recruiting children, lift the siege on the city of Taiz, remove mines and hand over their maps, and ensure the protection of women and children. The National Committee urged the international community to implement Human Rights Council resolution No. A/HRC/RES/57/37, secure navigation in the Red Sea, and continue to press for the immediate and unconditional release of United Nations and international organization employees detained in Houthi-controlled areas.