Yemen: UAE-backed group seizes women’s shelter

(Beirut)——With United Arab EmiratesThe Southern Transitional Council (STC), which governs the south Yemen Militants in Aden seized an independent women’s shelter on May 26, 2024. The STC and its affiliated Southern Women’s Union threatened independent Yemeni Women’s Union staff and women who took refuge there, Human Rights Watch said today. Posted a survey A similar discovery was made today.

“While the Southern Transitional Council pays lip service to women’s rights, its actions have repeatedly shown that it is restricting Civilized SocietyIncluding those who are committed to supporting women,” he said Nicu JafagnaYemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Southern Transitional Council should take immediate steps to remove the Southern Women’s Union from the Yemeni Women’s Union venues, which are one of the few safe spaces that women fleeing abuse can rely on.”

The raid is the latest in a series of actions by the STC to replace independent agencies with entities it supports. Irregularities violations of women’s rights and a wider attack on civil society.

yemeni women’s union The Yemeni Women’s Rights Protection Organization is one of the oldest civil society organizations dedicated to serving Yemeni women. It runs shelters across the country for survivors of gender-based violence, including women and children. The shelters provide women with psychological, legal, social and economic support. Human Rights Watch says this is a vital resource, especially in a country where laws still restrict women’s freedoms.

For nearly a month, the attackers had full control of the YWU office and shelter in Aden. They prevented staff from caring for a sick boy in the shelter and only allowed YWU staff to deliver limited food to those in the shelter, putting women and children in the shelter at risk. Although staff were able to re-enter the office on June 23, the Southern Women’s Union demanded that they give half of the building space to the government-affiliated Southern Women’s Union and remove the word “Yemen” from its name to indicate that they only support women in southern Yemen.

Human Rights Watch interviewed six people with knowledge of the raid, including lawyers and others with knowledge of the raid, and verified videos and photos of the raid received directly by researchers and found on social media platforms. Human Rights Watch also reviewed official documents related to the seizure.

The STC is part of the internationally recognized coalition against Yemen’s government: the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council; Replaced Former President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi was elected in 2022, including the STC leaders. The STC itself also maintains significant control in Aden and several other provinces in southern Yemen.

Human Rights Watch asked the SWA for comment. The SWA responded on June 6 that the SWA is an independent organization and that SWA forces did not control the building. They added that if SWA forces were there, it would be to protect the building, like others. They also provided Human Rights Watch with a document from the Ministry of Social Affairs that states that the SWA was formed at a women’s conference in Aden on January 6, 2024, and is an official women’s union recognized by the Yemeni government. However, despite forming this new women’s union, the SWA has refused to renew the registration of the independent Yemeni Women’s Union.

Interviewees stated that the STC began harassing the Yemeni Women’s Union in early May by refusing to renew its license, even though the union had met the necessary requirements for renewal.

On May 12, representatives of the Southern Women’s Union demanded that the Yemeni Women’s Union hand over its office to serve exclusively women from the south, rather than women from the “northern governorates”, even if they reside in Aden.

“We are a civil society organization,” a woman working with the Yemeni Women’s Union told the Southern Women’s Alliance. “We accept all women from all over the world, including some from Somalia and Ethiopia. We don’t turn away those who seek protection, no matter where they are from.”

A woman who works for the Yemeni Women’s Union said that the next day, a building security guard called the office and said that a group of men and women had stormed into the office, replaced the Yemeni Women’s Union logo with the Southern Women’s Union logo, and raised a South Yemeni flag, which is also the flag of the Southern Women’s Union. On May 14, Human Rights Watch shared a set of photos on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) showing a group of men and women holding the Southern Women’s Union logo.

The Yemeni Women’s Union contacted a woman in the office of the Southern Women’s Union leader, Aidarous Al-Zabidi, and asked the Southern Women’s Union to recall its forces and order the Southern Women’s Union representatives to evacuate the Yemeni Women’s Union building. The woman they spoke to asked the militants to withdraw, and they did so.

However, on May 26, a group of men and women affiliated with the Southern Women’s Alliance stormed the office again. In a video directly shared by an interviewee, at least 40 women can be seen standing outside the gate. At least five women repeatedly pushed the gate. A staff member said that several people smashed the office door, turned off the camera, and occupied the office.

A person present personally questioned the soldiers, who said the men who raided the building were escorted by a military vehicle belonging to the STC’s assault troopers. Human Rights Watch received two photos from a witness who said they were taken inside the Yemeni Women’s Union office on June 6. The photos show a tan pickup truck with a heavy machine gun mounted in the bed, consistent with vehicles driven by the STC and the Yemeni military, parked next to a building. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm the owner of the vehicle, but multiple interviewees said the STC is the only authority in Aden with armed units and military vehicles.

“(The invaders) insulted the women, questioned their dignity and threatened them with death,” said a worker at the Yemeni Women’s Union. “(The women) came to the shelter seeking protection but were threatened with death and insulted. We care about them very much.”

Another video sent by the same source shows three men using hammers to try to break the lock on the main building door. Researchers were unable to determine when the video was filmed.

Human Rights Watch reviewed an official document sent on May 26 by the Aden prosecutor to the Kelat police station, where the Yemeni Women’s Union has its offices, ordering them to stop the attack and send the attackers to a location where people are being detained during the investigation. The Yemeni Women’s Union lawyer said she went to give the document to Kelat police station, which falls under the jurisdiction of the STC, but a police officer threw it to the ground, saying the police did not recognize or accept the orders.

“We are going through a terrible time,” said a worker from the Yemeni Women’s Union, describing the conditions for women and children trapped in the shelter. “We can’t sleep, we can’t do anything, and we can’t go to the shelter to visit them.” She said that while staff sometimes brought some food to the women in the shelter, staff in the building would not allow them to bring medicine to the sick son of one of the sheltered women, nor would they allow the boy to go to the hospital.

On June 23, the Yemeni Women’s Union was able to reenter the building and continue working in its offices. However, staff told Human Rights Watch that the Southern Women’s Union continued to occupy part of the building because the Southern Committee had directed the Yemeni Women’s Union to share the building.

This is not the first time that the STC has occupied the buildings of civil society organizations and other non-affiliated institutions. On February 28, 2023, STC-affiliated forces Seizure Headquarters yemeni journalists union. According to the organization, the Southern Media and Journalists Union, which is supported by the Southern Media and Journalists Union, removed the logo of the Yemeni Journalists Union from the building and replaced it with its own logo. In June 2021, armed forces affiliated with the Southern Media and Journalists Union raided and seized the offices of the Yemeni Journalists Union. Saba News Agencythe official news agency of the Yemeni government.

Other warring parties in Yemen, particularly the Houthis, have also cracked down on civil society in the country. Arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance Dozens of civil society and UN staff, apparently based on their work.

“The STC and the security apparatus it controls should respect the rule of law, return the Yemeni Women’s Union building, and immediately cease their widespread violations against civil society,” Jafarnia said.