The 60th Session of the Human Rights Council

8 September - 8 October 2025

Item 3 : Interactive dialogue with Working Group on enforced disappearance

16 October 2025

Joint Statement of Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration (AMHRI), International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD) and Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ)

Delivered By Arwa Akbar / GICJ

Thank you.

We share the concerns of the Working Group regarding the situation of enforced disappearances in Yemen. Under de facto Houthi control, persistent patterns of impunity prevail, marked by the institutionalised and systematic use of arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance. The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms reports that 2,678 Yemenis went missing between January 2018 and April 2025 in Houthi-controlled areas, most of whom are considered to be victims of enforced disappearance. On August 30, 2025, while the international community was commemorating the victims of enforced disappearances, 13 affiliated members of a Yemeni political group, the General People’s Congress, were abducted by the Houthis. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

For years now, many journalists and human rights defenders have been victims of enforced disappearance, abducted by the Houthis.

It is well documented by the UN that children are subject to abduction and coercion, forced to become soldiers fighting under the Houthis' war against the Yemeni people. Children are taught to hold weapons when they should be holding their Mothers’ hands. There are widespread concerns in Yemen regarding the enforced disappearances of many of these children.

As such, we call on the Working Group, as well as all UN concerned bodies to act in establishing effective searches of those who have disappeared in Yemen, and to enact preventative legal mechanisms. We encourage the Working Group to continue its meaningful work in monitoring the neglect of human rights in Yemen.

Thank you.