The United Nations today (Tuesday) renewed its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN employees detained by the Houthi group since last June in Yemen.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the commission “renews its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN staff and all human rights and humanitarian aid workers detained in Yemen by the de facto Houthi authorities,” according to the UN News website. United

Shamdasani added, "Next Friday marks three months since the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) arrested six UNHCR employees, including a woman and five men, along with seven other UN employees in Yemen based on fabricated allegations."

The de facto authorities had arrested four more UN employees between 2021 and 2023, bringing the total number of UN employees arbitrarily detained in Yemen to 17, according to the official UN website.

Shamdasani confirmed, "Their whereabouts are still unknown and that the de facto Houthi authorities have not allowed physical access to any of them, despite our repeated requests."

UN spokeswoman Shamdasani called on “the de facto authorities in Sana’a to facilitate the work and not obstruct the work of United Nations entities and other humanitarian and human rights actors in their efforts to serve the Yemeni people, including promoting and protecting their rights.”

Last June, the Houthi group launched an arrest campaign that targeted dozens of workers in UN, international and local organizations based in Sanaa, while the internationally recognized Yemeni government called on all organizations to move their headquarters to the temporary capital, Aden, so that they could perform the tasks assigned to them far away. From the threats of the Houthis, and to ensure the continuation of its work and the safety and security of its employees.

The United Nations has called on the Houthi group, more than once, to immediately and unconditionally release United Nations employees, relief workers and civil society workers who were arbitrarily detained in Sanaa.

The capital, Sana'a, and most of the governorates of northern Yemen have been under the control of the Houthi group since late 2014, and several UN and international organizations still have their headquarters in Sana'a.