Aid leaders urge Houthis to release humanitarian workers detained in Yemen
The heads of 10 major international charities and United Nations agencies have demanded the release of aid workers held captive by Yemen's Houthi rebels.
In a statement released to mark the one-year anniversary of the kidnapping of 23 UN staff and five humanitarian workers in northern Yemen, they said nothing could justify the ordeal the hostages had been through.
'They were doing their jobs, helping people in desperate need: people without food, shelter, or adequate health care,' they said in the letter, seen by The Telegraph.
The Iran-backed group's action, they added, have had a 'chilling effect across the international community' and 'undermined mediation efforts for lasting peace' in Yemen.
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, said: 'The UN and its humanitarian partners should never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their mandates for the benefit of the people they serve.'
He strongly condemned the death of a World Food Programme (WFP) staff member in detention in February.
The worker, who has only been identified by his first name, Ahmed, had delivered food aid with the organisation since 2017. It is unclear how he died.
'The Houthi de facto authorities have yet to provide an explanation for this deplorable tragedy,' he said.
Hisham al-Hakimi, 44, Save the Children International's safety and security director in Yemen, also died in Houthi custody in October 2024.
The organisation described his death as 'unexplained' and called for an investigation.
Ten years of civil war have devastated Yemen and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
More 150,000 people have died and 24 million people – around 60 per cent of the population – are in need of humanitarian assistance. One in two children under the age of five is suffering from malnutrition.
In January, the UN said it would pause all operations in the northern governorate of Saada, a stronghold of the Houthi movement, citing safety concerns.
It is also actively engaging with senior Houthi officials to try to secure the release of all its detained employees, it added.
Human rights groups have also accused the Houthi movement of routinely kidnapping, torturing and arbitrarily detaining hundreds of civilians.
Last June, when it arrested the aid workers, the group claimed to have dismantled an 'American-Israeli spy network' – a claim the UN rejected as baseless.
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