The Panel of Experts on Yemen condemned Houthis for continuing to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including conducting military attacks on ships, smuggling drugs and narcotics.
In their final report presented to the UN Security Council on February 21, the Panel of Experts also called on the Houthis to accept the currency notes issued by the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden.
The Panel said Houthis continued their targeted or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Yemen and neighboring States, in a blatant violation of international human rights law.
The Experts then noted that Houthis were continuing with the indoctrination, recruitment and military training of children at the summer camps and using children as combatants, as well as continuing to subject civilians to arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance and other serious violations.
“The Houthis continued their campaign of indoctrinating children and of recruiting and using them in their forces, including as combatants, contrary to their legal obligations and the action plan signed with the UN in April 2022 to prevent and end recruitment and other grave violations against children,” the Panel of Experts said.
The experts said they gathered information and evidence through in-person and remote interviews with victims and family members and in meetings with NGOs that have been documenting this grave violation against children.
In addition, they received a list of 1,201 children who had reportedly been recruited and trained by the Houthis between July 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022.
The Panel investigated reports that Houthi militias in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Bayda and other locations continued to arbitrarily detain thousands of civilians, mostly in secret detention places.
“The Houthis subjected detainees to ill-treatment, violence (including sexual violence), torture and other forms of degrading and inhuman treatment or punishment, in violation of fundamental human rights,” it said.
The Panel also interviewed 12 victims who detailed the inhuman and degrading treatment and torture that they had experienced in Houthi prisons.
The victims included a young woman who had spent more than 17 months in various places of detention operated by the Houthis, in Sanaa, Hodeidah and other locations, where she had been subjected to torture and sexual violence.
Also, two journalists reported that the Houthis had subjected them to torture because of their work and political affiliation.
The Panel also received information from local advocates and organizations that had documented cases of abduction, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of civilians by the Houthis.
One of the advocacy groups was demanding the release of 526 civilians, including four journalists, who had been abducted by the Houthis and were in their custody, facing the death penalty.
