Obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime that condemns the Houthis and reinforces their classification as terrorists
English - Monday 14 February 2022 الساعة 03:54 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
There are many criteria adopted by the United States of America, states, and international legal institutions that lead to the designation of an entity as a “terrorist organization”, after which the process of isolating it begins by taking a series of political and economic measures and sanctions to curb its terrorist activity and threats.
Those criteria were divided between war crimes, murder and humanitarian violations of all kinds, including obstructing the delivery of food aid provided by international organizations through looting or diverting it to those who do not deserve it.
All of these crimes were committed by the Houthi coup militias in Yemen against civilians who are on the verge of an expected famine in light of the silence and connivance of the international community, which has so far refused to classify these militias as a terrorist organization.
The United States and the major powers are taking obstruction of humanitarian aid as an excuse to spare Houthi this designation, at a time when reality and international reports confirm that this crime has been perpetrated by militias for years, in addition to restricting the movement of UN humanitarian organizations and preventing them from delivering their aid to the beneficiaries.
There are dozens of statements and statements issued by the United States of America, the international community and foreign media, all confirming the Houthi militias withholding humanitarian aid from civilians.
And the United Nations World Food Program announced in April 2020 that humanitarian aid provided to Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen had been halved, due to concerns that the Houthi authority had obstructed the distribution of some aid shipments.
While the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in more than one briefing to the UN Security Council meeting, accused the Houthi militia of imposing significant restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemenis.
The latest of these accusations was in the briefing of the Acting United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Ramesh Raja Singham, to the Security Council last January, where he said that the Houthis are imposing restrictions on “relief” workers and activists in their areas of control.
In its latest report, the United Nations Panel of Experts on Yemen reinforced these accusations. The report stated that many Houthi violations of the right to humanitarian work have been documented, most notably the threat of families in their areas of control to remove their name from the list of beneficiaries of humanitarian aid if they refuse to recruit their children.
The report talked about the team of experts possessing evidence of the Houthi militia’s mistreatment of a specific humanitarian organization, its continuous harassment and obstruction, with the aim of forcing it to change its policy, in addition to its violations against humanitarian workers, including physical violence, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, denial of entry, expulsion of senior staff, restricting the movement of staff and supplies, and interference in activities and selection of service providers.
In this context, human rights advocates and jurists stress the need to classify the Houthi militias as a “terrorist organization” for their crimes against civilians, which amounted to depriving them of food and pushing them towards starvation.. Noting what was included in the accusations of UN organizations and the report of the team of experts under the pretext that classifying the militias would impede the delivery of humanitarian aid.
They also stressed the need to put an end to the Houthi militia's exploitation of the humanitarian file to escape its obligations and cover up its terrorist crimes, which did not stop at civilians, but affected neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and international navigation through piracy on ships passing off the shores of Hodeidah.
