Yemen Monitor/Marib/Exclusive
30 local human rights organizations on Friday accused the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, of not putting any pressure on the Houthi armed group in the case of prominent politician “Mohammed Qahtaan,” who has been kidnapped by the group for 9 years.
A statement issued by the organizations – obtained by “Yemen Monitor” – said: “It is unfortunate that the United Nations and the UN envoy to Yemen did not use their tools to pressure the Houthi group on the issue of forcibly disappeared persons, headed by politician Mohammed Qahtaan, who is covered by UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which reflects an ambiguousness in dealing with the file of forcibly disappeared persons and not giving it the deserved priority in the previous rounds of negotiations.”
This comes as the United Nations prepares to sponsor a new round of consultations on prisoners and detainees in the Sultanate of Oman next Sunday, June 31. The Yemeni government has retracted its refusal to participate due to pressure from the coalition – according to a government source for “Yemen Monitor” earlier last week.
The statement condemned this as “an ongoing crime, as enforced disappearance constitutes a serious violation of human rights and represents a crime against humanity according to Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
The internationally recognized government had previously conditioned its participation in negotiations with the Houthis on prisoners on knowing the fate of Mohammed Qahtaan and allowing his family to contact him.
The statement called on the Houthi group “to immediately and unconditionally release politician Mohammed Qahtaan and all abductees and forcibly disappeared persons,” and demanded “the opening of independent and fair investigations into all cases of enforced disappearance by all parties and bringing the perpetrators to justice to ensure that these violations are not repeated.”
The organizations called on the UN envoy “and the international community to include the file of forcibly disappeared persons in Yemen on the agenda of the upcoming negotiations in Oman, and to work seriously to ensure their release.”
They also called on “the Presidential Leadership Council and the Yemeni government to play their legal, humanitarian, moral role, and work to liberate all forcibly disappeared persons and detainees in various Yemeni provinces.”
The organizations signatories to the statement are: “The National Committee for Prisoners and Abductees, the Yemeni Alliance for Monitoring Human Rights Violations, Mayoon Human Rights Organization, the Rights Radar Human Rights Organization, the Rasd for Rights and Freedoms Organization, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms, Shohoud Human Rights Organization and Iradah to Combat Torture and Enforced Disappearance Organization, Rased Center for Rights and Development, the Takas’si Organization for Development and Human Rights.”
