Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture, Muammar Al-Eryani, expressed his deep anger after the Houthi militia kidnapped a new UN employee in Saada Governorate during the past few days.

Al-Eryani said that the Houthi militia’s kidnapping of an employee of the United Nations World Food Program, Abdullah Al-Baydani, and another Yemeni employee of the Oxfam organization in Saada Governorate, is a continuation of its approach of restricting international organizations and pressuring them to harness their activities to serve their malicious goals.

Al-Eryani added in a press statement today, “These kidnappings come days after the briefing presented by the Special Envoy for Yemen before the UN Security Council, marking the passage of more than a hundred days since the Houthi militia began an arrest campaign targeting Yemenis involved in providing” humanitarian aid, development, “Human rights, peacebuilding, and education,” and renewed the calls of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights for their immediate and unconditional release.

He pointed out that the Houthi militia had previously launched a wave of kidnappings since the beginning of June that affected more than 70 employees of the United Nations and its affiliated UN agencies, the Office of the UN Envoy, and a number of international and local organizations working in the kidnapped capital, Sana’a, including three women, They were forcibly disappeared for more than a hundred days under mysterious circumstances.

He pointed out that the Houthi militia considered the hesitant international positions a green light to escalate the Houthi repressive measures towards international and humanitarian organizations working in the areas under its control, and the local employees working in them.
He pointed out that the international community’s lax position in dealing with the Houthi militia Over the past years, turning a blind eye to its criminal practices has contributed to reaching this dangerous stage.

Al-Eryani renewed the call to the United Nations mission, all UN agencies, and international organizations working in Yemen, and the United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), to immediately move its headquarters to the temporary capital, Aden, and the liberated areas, to ensure the appropriate climate for performing its humanitarian tasks. Safely and more effectively to serve those in need, and to preserve the lives of its workers.

Al-Eryani called for a firm international stance and to take strong and deterrent measures commensurate with the crimes committed by the Houthi militia, which represent a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and to exert real pressure on the militia to release all the employees of the United Nations and international and local organizations forcibly detained in its detention centers, and to immediately begin Classified as a “global terrorist organization.”

Al-Eryani stressed that it has become urgent to intensify international pressure through the United Nations and permanent members of the Security Council, by imposing additional sanctions on the leaders of the Houthi militia, and escalating the issue in the international media to reveal the extent of Houthi violations, increase global awareness of their dangers, and move the legal path through Filing lawsuits in various international courts to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.