Under the slogan “My son’s freedom comes first,” the Abductees’ Mothers Association marked its tenth anniversary this Saturday with a public and human rights event attended by representatives of local authorities, civil society organizations, human rights activists, families of abductees, and survivors of detention.
From prison gates to institutionalized struggle, the event opened with moving speeches reflecting on the Association’s journey, which was born out of suffering on April 18, 2016, specifically in front of the Criminal Investigation Department in Sana’a. In her remarks, the Association’s chairwoman, Amat Al-Salam Al-Hajj, emphasized that these ten years are not just a number, but “ten years of pain that has not been broken, and hope that has not faded.”
Al-Hajj noted that the Association has successfully transformed from spontaneous protest gatherings by mothers into a pioneering women-led human rights organization. Through its efforts, it has contributed to the release of more than 1,200 abductees, despite the harassment, abductions, and threats its members have faced, which at times forced them into displacement.
Digitizing Rights: Launch of the Online Platform
The event also featured a significant technological milestone with the official launch of the Association’s digital platform, a qualitative tool for documenting violations and preserving victims’ memory. A presentation highlighted its key features, including a comprehensive digital archive covering protests, reports, and human rights statements, multimedia documentation, including a library of visual materials, documentaries, and podcasts dedicated to the issue as well as a specialized database providing secure and organized access for researchers, donors, and human rights partners to support transitional justice efforts.
April 18: A Call to Recognize a National Day for Abductees
The Association placed renewed emphasis this year on urging government and sovereign authorities to designate April 18 as a national day for Yemeni abductees. First proposed in 2018 and reiterated in annual campaigns, this demand aims to commemorate the suffering and ensure the tragedy of abductees and forcibly disappeared persons is not forgotten by future generations, promote accountability by pressing for the prosecution of those responsible for abduction, enforced disappearance, and torture affecting thousands of civilians, and raise human rights awareness by establishing this date as an annual occasion to spotlight violations in Yemen. The event also featured a series of videos and recorded testimonies documenting the Association’s campaigns over the years, alongside the mothers’ ongoing calls to officially recognize this date as a reminder of the world’s moral and legal responsibility toward the victims.
Official and Human Rights Solidarity
Mahmoud Al-Bukari, Deputy Director of the Office of Social Affairs and Labor, delivered remarks on behalf of the local authority, praising the Association’s role in addressing a major humanitarian gap created by the war. He stressed that “the abduction of citizens, women and children alike, is a heinous act that contradicts all democratic and human values,” reaffirming official support for the Association’s work in defending rights and freedoms.
From a human rights perspective, Dr. Abdullah Shaddad, head of the Organization for the Protection of Law and Social Peace, called for responding to the Association’s demands to declare April 18 a national day for abductees. He warned of the ongoing crimes of enforced disappearance and torture affecting hundreds in detention facilities run by de facto authorities in Sana’a and elsewhere, describing them as “crimes against humanity that do not expire with time.”
Ten-Year Demands and Recommendations
The event concluded with a final statement outlining a set of urgent demands, including complete halt to all forms of abduction and arbitrary detention, and disclosure of the fate of the forcibly disappeared, activation of accountability mechanisms and an end to impunity for all those involved in torture, prioritizing the humanitarian file in the ongoing Amman negotiations and securing the unconditional release of all abductees and establishing an independent transitional justice body to ensure redress and rehabilitation for victims after their release.
“The journey will not end until every abductee returns and mothers’ hearts are healed… Our son’s freedom is our first and final goal.” Final statement of the event.
