Abductees’ Mothers Association participated today, along several other NGOs in Marib, at a seminar titled “The Effects and Violations of Bombing Civilians by Houthi Armed Group as UN Agencies Do Not Fulfil Their Duties.”
During the seminar, Ulfat Al-Refa’I, an association representative, spoke of the violations of Houthi armed group since 2016 as the association has documented the abduction of at least 8384 civilians, 1504 of whom have been forcibly disappeared and 1273 have been subjected to torture at detention centers. The association has, also, documented the murder of 65 abductees by torture, the death of 15 detainees due to intentional medical negligence, and the bombing of 188 abductees by airstrikes that targeted detention centers.
In her speech, the association representative talked about the effects of the war that led to arbitrary arrests and detentions on civilians, which in turn resulted in devastating all social segments including journalists, students, politicians, and activists, leading to the rapture of social fabric. Additionally, she highlighted the grave violations that occur during abductions such as; storming and surrounding houses using military vehicles, terrorizing and physically and verbally assaulting families, and financially extorting them in order to release their relatives.
Ulfat expressed the association condemnation of bombing civilians in Marib and the siege Houthi armed group had laid around Alabdyah district, Marib, which was faced by total silence from United Nations’ agencies.
Al-Refa’I called upon the United Nations to fulfil its duties by mounting the needed pressure on Houthis in order to stop their repeated violations against the civilians in Marib, relating to the necessity of generating the efforts to stop the war on Marib and end the siege of Alabdya district, pressuring to release all abducted and arbitrarily detained civilians unconditionally, and implementing Stockholm Agreement and Alriyadh Agreement.
She concluded her speech by recommending to form an investigation committee in order to investigate the cases of abduction, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and torture, to work on uncovering the forcibly disappeared and releasing abductees and granting them their legal rights, to bring the perpetrators of forced disappearance and torture to justice, and to compensate the victims of abduction, disappearance, and torture. She, in the end, stressed on the importance of contacting regional and international parliaments in order to generate the needed pressure to save the abductees and forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained persons.