The UN and international NGOs call for the immediate release of their personnel detained “arbitrarily” in Yemen

MADRID 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The special envoy of the United Nations secretary for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, five UN agencies and the international NGOs Oxfam, CARE and Save the Children have called this Saturday for the “immediate and unconditional” release of their personnel detained “arbitrarily” by the Yemen’s Houthi authorities, while some of them could face “criminal proceedings.”

“At a time when we were hoping for the release of our colleagues, we are deeply shocked by this news. The possible presentation of ‘charges’ against our colleagues is unacceptable and further aggravates the prolonged incommunicado detention they have already endured,” have pointed out in a joint statement.

The text calls for the immediate release of eight OHCHR employees, nine from other UN agencies and dozens of international and local aid workers who are also detained and held incommunicado under Yemen’s Houthi authorities.

On June 11, 13 UN officials were arrested along with at least eleven civil society workers accused of being part of an “Israeli-American spy network,” as the rebels declared at the time.

The statement has been issued by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Program (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the three international NGOs.

In it, the group states that it is “extremely concerned” about the alleged referral to “criminal prosecution” of the detainees by the Yemeni authorities, warning of the risk to their safety and that of their families.

Likewise, they have warned of the consequences of this measure on their ability to provide humanitarian aid in a country where it is estimated that 17.6 million people are beginning to suffer from serious hunger, including 2.4 million children under five years of age and 1 .2 million pregnant and lactating women suffering from acute malnutrition.

For this reason, they have urged the Yemeni rebel authorities to stop “attacks against humanitarian workers, including arbitrary arrests, intimidation, ill-treatment and false allegations.”

“The United Nations, international NGOs and their partners are working through all possible channels and with multiple governments to achieve the immediate release of the detainees,” they said.