The Panel of Experts on Yemen, in its report issued on February 21, 2023 and submitted to the Security Council, condemned the Houthi militia for its practice of a set of violations of international law and human rights. These violations include but are not limited to: threats and military attacks against ships, smuggling of drugs and psychotropic substances, and denying the Banknote issued by the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden.
- The Panel of Experts’ report on Yemen indicated that the Houthis continue to launch indiscriminate attacks on civilians and neighboring countries, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, in addition to their continued indoctrination, recruitment and military training of children in summer camps, the Houthis commit acts of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance of civilians. The report confirmed that violations of the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict continue to occur despite the Houthis signing an action plan with the United Nations on April 18, 2022; To, among other things, end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in their forces. The investigation conducted by the team showed that the recruitment of children by the Houthis followed the same trends and methods documented in the two previous reports, whereby Houthi supervisors at the community level recruited children, most of whom were in the age group of 13 to 17 years, through coercion, threatening parents and teachers, offering material inducements, promises of martyrdom to children, and enrolling them in cultural and religious courses based on Houthi ideology. The team collected information and evidence, through personal and remote interviews, with victims and family members, and in meetings with NGOs, documenting this grave violation against children. In addition, the team received a list of 1,201 children who were reportedly recruited and trained by the Houthis between July 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022.
- The Panel investigated reports that the Houthis in Sana’a, Hudaydah, Al-Bayda and elsewhere continued to arbitrarily detain thousands of civilians, most of them in secret places of detention. Houthi forces subject detainees to ill-treatment, violence (including sexual violence), torture and other forms of degrading and inhumane treatment or punishment, in violation of basic human rights.
- The report confirmed that humanitarian actors face many obstacles in delivering and distributing humanitarian aid to the populations in dire need of assistance. The main impediments were violence against humanitarian personnel and assets, restrictions on the movement of humanitarian personnel and operations, and obstruction of humanitarian activities.
- The report touched on the Houthi attacks, which targeted the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with ballistic and cruise missiles, in addition to launching attacks from the air with explosives-laden “drones”, as the Houthis launched an unprecedented attack on January 17, 2022 against the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. As a result of this attack, a number of civilians were killed.
- With regard to the military truce, which began on April 2, 2022, with UN mediation, the report stated that the first six months of it witnessed relative calm, during which oil imports resumed through the port of Hodeidah, and allowing a limited number of commercial flights to take off from Sana’a airport. These flights carried more than 42,500 civilian passengers. The reason for the truce not continuing – according to the experts’ report – is the unreasonable demands by Al-Houthi, such as their demands that the government of Yemen pay the salaries of all military personnel working in the Houthi forces, in addition to Al-Houthi’s refusal to lift the siege on the city of Taiz; The result is that the truce was not extended beyondOctober 2, 2022. In the third phase of the truce, and in addition to the Houthis continuing their demands that the Yemeni government pay the salaries of workers in their military apparatus, they also tried to put an end to the arrival of oil revenues to the Yemeni government, as a result of Yemeni crude oil exports. Where the Houthi group attacked the economic capabilities of the legitimate government, and created instability in the economic conditions in the areas controlled by the legitimate government. The Houthis also prevented, in the areas of their control, the use and circulation of paper currency issued by the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden, as well as threatening and attacking ships and ports. These economic obstacles, along with the Houthi military attacks, are the most serious threat to the peace, security and stability of Yemen.
With regard to financial sanctions, the designated individuals, those acting on their behalf or at their direction, and the entities they own or control, continue to receive, possess or control, directly or indirectly, funds, financial assets and other economic resources in violation of the sanctions regime established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2140; The Houthis continue to control the legitimate and illegal sources of income, which are customs, taxes, non-tax revenues and illegal fees. They imposed a tax (one-fifth) on many economic activities, including the minerals, oil, water and fishing sectors. The beneficiaries of this new tax are the Houthi family and many of their loyalists. Real estate is another major revenue-generating sector for the Houthis. They nationally confiscated vast tracts of land and buildings during the reporting period.
- With regard to developments affecting peace, security and stability, concessions for the truce were mostly made by the Yemeni government and the coalition, as the two main demands of the Houthis were met. Although there were no major military clashes or shifts by the parties to the conflict on the ground, the Houthi forces did not withdraw as agreed to the sites under the Stockholm Agreement. They also did not agree to reopen the roads between the besieged city of Taiz and other governorates, and to pay the salaries of public sector employees from the revenues of oil imports through Hodeidah.
The Panel of Experts indicated that it is currently investigating 7 new cases related to maritime smuggling operations, some of which include trading in fertilizers and chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of explosives and as a source of solid fuel that is used as a propellant for missiles. The Group of Experts also reported that the Group of Experts is also investigating launch containers for anti-tank guided missiles, which are smuggled by being hidden in commercial transport trucks across the land border between Yemen and Oman.
The report also indicated that there are 7 sources through which the Houthi militia obtains funds illegally during the year 2022 to finance their war efforts, as follow:
- Customs duties and other taxes;
- Non-tax revenues and zakat;
- Confiscation of land and other property;
- Collecting money from black market fuel operations;
- Illegal fees derived from fuel imports, domestic trade and other commercial activities;
- Confiscation of bank deposits; Funding from foreign sources.
- Alkhomos tax.
- The report indicated that during the period from April to November 2022, a total of 69 ships carrying 1,810,000 and 498 tons of oil arrived at the port, and this led to the Houthis obtaining customs revenues amounting to about 271.935 billion Yemeni riyals ($500 million). In violation of the Stockholm Agreement, the Houthis do not use these revenues to pay the salaries of public servants in contravention of the Stockholm Agreement.
- The full text of the report can be viewed through the notarized code (S/2023/130), which is available online via the following link: https://tinyurl.com/4nuufn5f
