HRW: Yemen’s Houthis Obstructing Aid, Exacerbating Cholera

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday accused the Houthis of obstructing aid work and exacerbating a deadly cholera outbreak across Yemen, and called on authorities in various regions to strengthen preventative measures against the epidemic.

The organization said the Yemeni government has quickly responded to the news of the outbreak in October 2023 by working with humanitarian agencies to set up clinics and procure necessary medicines.

“The cholera outbreak will continue to take lives so long as Yemeni authorities obstruct aid and authorities and the international community fail to adequately invest in prevention and mitigation measures,” the non-governmental organization said in a statement.

HRW called on Yemeni authorities to remove obstacles to aid delivery, including to public health information.

It again asked the Houthis to halt arbitrary detentions and release UN and civil society staff and aid workers.

The NGO said Houthis failed to take measures to prevent future cholera outbreaks and they also detained and threatened civil society staff, including humanitarian aid workers, in their recent arrest campaign.

Data collected by aid agencies indicate that between January 1 and July 19 there have been about 95,000 suspected cholera cases, resulting in at least 258 deaths, it showed.

“The obstructions to aid work by Yemen’s authorities, in particular the Houthis, are contributing to the spread of cholera,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “More than 200 people have already died from this preventable disease, and the Houthis’ detention of aid workers poses a serious threat to further limit the presence of lifesaving aid.”

Houthis Refuse to Announce Cholera Outbreak

The Yemeni government met with HRW and explained that many of their constraints in addressing the cholera outbreak were linked with a lack of funding, HRW said.

Government officials also provided information demonstrating the actions they had taken to inform the Yemeni public about the outbreak.

The organization said that several sources affirm that Yemen’s severely damaged healthcare infrastructure, the lack of safe drinking water, high malnutrition rates, and growing levels of vaccine denial and hesitancy from Houthi vaccine falsehoods have facilitated the spread and impact of cholera in Yemen.

According to a doctor working with a humanitarian aid organization in Houthi-controlled areas, though patients began showing signs of cholera starting in November 2023, Houthi authorities refused to acknowledge the crisis to humanitarian agencies until March 18, 2024, when there were already thousands of cases.

In March, the Houthis finally began providing information about cholera cases in Houthi-controlled territory, but they still have not announced the outbreak publicly, the doctor said.

Houthi authorities have also detained at least a dozen UN and civil society staff since May 31, with informed sources telling HRW that the number of those detained continues to grow.

The arrests have left many agencies questioning whether or how to continue safely providing humanitarian aid in Houthi-controlled territories, which has the potential to further exacerbate the current cholera outbreak, it said.

Government Responds to Outbreak

HRW affirmed that the Yemeni government quickly responded to the news of the outbreak in October 2023 by working with humanitarian agencies to set up clinics and procure necessary medicines.

Though they have continued to share information with humanitarian agencies since the start of the outbreak, an informed source told HRW that they have instructed aid groups not to use the word “cholera” in public statements, particularly in Arabic. This hinders people’s ability to take measures to prevent further spread of the disease.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), during the last cholera outbreak in Yemen from 2016 to 2022, Yemen had 2.5 million suspected cases, constituting “the largest ever reported cholera outbreak in recent history,” with over 4,000 deaths.

Despite that immense toll, HRW said the authorities failed to take measures to prevent future outbreaks.

The New-York based organization said the Houthis and the Yemeni government are obligated to protect everyone’s human rights in territory they control, including the rights to life, to health, and to an adequate standard of living, including food and water.

Their aid obstructions violate these obligations, it added.

Although limited resources and capacity may mean that economic and social rights can only be fully realized over time, the authorities are still obliged to ensure minimum essential levels of health care, including essential primary health care, HRW said.

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.

HRW: Yemen’s Houthis Obstructing Aid, Exacerbating Cholera