Volker, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Turkish said On Thursday, he expressed horror at the increasing impact that the worsening conflict in Yemen between the Ansar Allah (Houthi) armed group, the Yemeni government and various affiliated forces is having on civilians. Turk strongly condemned the increased suffering and fear among civilians caused by the violence.
“Civilians must never be targeted and protecting them must be a top priority,” Turk said. “As if the people of Yemen haven’t already endured enough misery, civilians are now also bearing the brunt of this latest increase in fighting.” Many are forced to flee for their lives.”
The ongoing fighting in Yemen is increasing, leading to a growing displacement crisis affecting more civilians every day. This is what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates. more than 130,000 people have fled their homes since the beginning of September.
Ground fighting, artillery fire and drone and rocket attacks have killed and injured at least 125 civilians since a wave of new Ansar Allah attacks in early August. The UN human rights office has documented the killing of 32 civilians, including 15 children and three women, since the start of last month. On August 7 and September 7 and 9, Ansar Allah forces reportedly attacked sites housing IDPs in Ma’rib governorate, the office documented.
The attacks on civilians violate this Article 51 paragraph 2 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which states that acts of violence or threats of violence intended to incite fear among the civilian population, including individual civilians, are prohibited.
Since the Houthi group came to power in 2014, attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have been frequent. MMore than 5.2 million people were internally displaced due to the ongoing war in Yemen long before the recent escalation. The current fighting is worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. The UNHCR It is estimated that more than 22 million people need humanitarian assistance, including internally displaced people and refugees.
In September 2020, human rights groups and Global rights compliance concluded that the Houthis’ deliberate restriction of vital humanitarian assistance and commercial shipping significantly hindered Yemeni civilians’ access to food and water. They effectively used hunger as a weapon of war and disagreed Article 54 from Additional Protocol I. In 2021, Human Rights Watch condemned the Houthi rebels for indiscriminately They fired artillery, rockets, mortars and missiles at densely populated areas in Marib governorate, killing and injuring civilians.
During the 12-year conflict, the parties’ international human rights violations have caused significant harm to the civilian population. The attacks targeted homes, hospitals, schools, etc Marketsmany of which were carried out intentionally And indiscriminately. Houthi forces have also deployed banned anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices on a large scale in fields, roads and residential areas. As a result, Save the children found that children died from landmines and unexploded ordnance increased eightfold from 2018 to 2022.
UNHCR has explained an initial Level 1 emergency for Yemen, Djibouti and Somalia, enabling the rapid mobilization of humanitarian assistance and personnel to strengthen their response through shelter, protection and cash assistance to purchase essential items or to facilitate moving to safety.
Turk also called for the immediate release of 73 UN staff They were arbitrarily detained by the Ansar Allah group, some for many years, describing the detentions as intolerable and unacceptable.
