Anger in Sanaa after UN Partially Suspends Aid over Houthi Violations

Yemenis displaced from the port city of Hodeidah receive humanitarian aid donated by the WFP in the northern province of Hajjah. (AFP)
Yemenis displaced from the port city of Hodeidah receive humanitarian aid donated by the WFP in the northern province of Hajjah. (AFP)
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Anger in Sanaa after UN Partially Suspends Aid over Houthi Violations

Yemenis displaced from the port city of Hodeidah receive humanitarian aid donated by the WFP in the northern province of Hajjah. (AFP)
Yemenis displaced from the port city of Hodeidah receive humanitarian aid donated by the WFP in the northern province of Hajjah. (AFP)

In Yemen's capital Sanaa, Mohammed Omar is terrified he will not be able to feed his five children after the UN announced the partial suspension of aid in the city that is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

"I cannot provide food for them, except what we get monthly from the organization," the 38-year-old told AFP.

"What we receive helps a lot, but even that is not enough," added Omar, who fled from the flashpoint Red Sea city of Hodeidah to Sanaa.

The World Food Program announced Thursday the "partial suspension" of aid to the capital.

The UN agency cited problems with the "diversion of food" from the neediest for the decision, which will affect 850,000 people.

Programs will remain in place for malnourished children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

"The suspension of aid is literally a war on Yemen," said Sanaa resident Samir al-Saqaf. "It is a war by all means."

On Friday, the market in Sanaa's old city was bustling with people looking to buy spices, fruits and vegetable.

Customers could be seen haggling with a vendor selling live chickens, while others continued to walk around looking for a good deal.

An estimated 24 million Yemenis -- more than 80 percent of the population -- depend on some form of humanitarian or protection assistance for survival, according to the UN.

Ultimately, the suspension will affect all areas in Yemen "under the control of the Sanaa-based authorities", said WFP.

'We are begging'

Naser al-Moaq, 40, said he had been struggling to receive aid on a monthly basis.

"There is manipulation in food aid even though my name is registered with the organization," the unemployed father-of-six told AFP.

"One month I get aid, the next they refuse to give me," said Moaq, without specifying who was withholding the food.

"We find that food that had been allocated as aid is being sold in supermarkets, although we desperately need it."

David Beasley, WFP's director general, earlier this week said food aid was being "manipulated" and warned deliveries risked being suspended unless the Houthis changed their approach.

WFP has accused certain Houthi leaders of "non-cooperation", denying access to humanitarian convoys or creating obstacles in choosing who gets the aid.

"This suspension will hurt us... not just people in one village, province or city, but the entire nation," said Sanaa resident Zaydi Abdulrahman.

Some of those relying on food aid include public workers, most of whom have gone unpaid for months as the country's economy has collapsed after more than four years of war.

"We are begging organizations for food after we lost our salaries," said Zeid Abdelrabb, 35, a civil servant.

'Rotten food'

However, not everyone in the capital agreed the organization's suspension would have a real impact on their lives.

Some Sanaa residents have complained that some of the food aid they have received was rotten and said Yemenis should try and live off the land.

"The food has been stored for so long that when it gets to consumers, it's spoiled. We don't need it," said Ebrahim al-Kebsi.

"We can plant our land, it would be much better," he said.

Saleem al-Abidy agreed: "We should start trying to be self-sufficient or start working on something else and not wait for baskets containing rotten food," he said.

The Houthis have repeatedly rejected UN accusation of selling aid meant for civilians and slammed WFP for sending "rotten food".



Things to Know About the UN Special Rapporteur Sanctioned by the US

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
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Things to Know About the UN Special Rapporteur Sanctioned by the US

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

A UN special rapporteur was sanctioned by the United States over her work as an independent investigator scrutinizing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, a high-profile role in a network of experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Francesca Albanese is among the experts chosen by the 47-member council in Geneva. They report to the body as a means of monitoring human rights records in various countries and the global observance of specific rights.

Special rapporteurs don't represent the UN and have no formal authority. Still, their reports can step up pressure on countries, while their findings inform prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and other venues working on transnational justice cases.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement announcing sanctions against Albanese on Wednesday that she “has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

Albanese said Thursday that she believed the sanctions were “calculated to weaken my mission.” She said at a news conference in Slovenia that “I’ll continue to do what I have to do.”

She questioned why she had been sanctioned — “for having exposed a genocide? For having denounced the system? They never challenged me on the facts.”

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called for a “prompt reversal” of the US sanctions. He added that “even in face of fierce disagreement, UN member states should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures.”

Prominent expert

Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has developed an unusually high profile as the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, a post she has held since May 2022.

Last week, she named several large US companies among those aiding Israel as it fights a war with Hamas in Gaza, saying her report “shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many.”

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with the Human Rights Council, Albanese and previous rapporteurs, accusing them of bias. It has refused to cooperate with a special “Commission of Inquiry” established following a 2021 conflict with Hamas.

Albanese has been vocal about what she describes as a genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the US, which provides military support to its close ally, have strongly denied the accusation.

‘Nothing justifies what Israel is doing’

In recent weeks, Albanese issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. She also has been a strong supporter of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegations of war crimes.

Albanese said at a news conference last year that she has “always been attacked since the very beginning of my mandate,” adding that criticism wouldn't force her to step down.

“It just infuriates me, it pisses me off, of course it does, but then it creates even more pressure not to step back,” she said. “Human rights work is first and foremost amplifying the voice of people who are not heard.”

She added that “of course, one condemned Hamas — how not to condemn Hamas? But at the same time, nothing justifies what Israel is doing.”

Albanese became an affiliate scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University in 2015, and has taught and lectured in recent years at various universities in Europe and the Middle East. She also has written publications and opinions on Palestinian issues.

Albanese worked between 2003 and 2013 with arms of the UN, including the legal affairs department of the UN Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, and the UN human rights office, according to her biography on the Georgetown website.

She was in Washington between 2013 and 2015 and worked for an American nongovernmental organization, Project Concern International, as an adviser on protection issues during an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Member of a small group

Albanese is one of 14 current council-appointed experts on specific countries and territories.

Special rapporteurs, who document rights violations and abuses, usually have renewable mandates of one year and generally work without the support of the country under investigation. There are rapporteurs for Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Russia and Syria.

There also are three country-specific “independent experts,” a role more focused on technical assistance, for the Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia.

Additionally, there are several dozen “thematic mandates,” which task experts or working groups to analyze phenomena related to particular human rights. Those include special rapporteurs on “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the human rights of migrants, the elimination of discrimination against people affected by leprosy and the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.