Organizations: We fear that the Houthi militia will close our projects

English - Thursday 09 September 2021 الساعة 08:47 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:

A new human rights report revealed that the Houthi militia closed, in early 2021, a food security project of an international organization, which aimed to distribute food baskets to more than 4,000 beneficiaries, including the most vulnerable and disabled families.

The report confirmed that the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs suspended this project due to the organization's refusal to employ individuals belonging to the militia and its refusal to purchase relief materials from a merchant that the Houthi militia tried to impose on the organization.

The report "Makers of Starvation" issued by the Mwatana Organization and the Gulf Research Center said that humanitarian relief organizations expressed their great fears of reprisals by the Houthi militia, by closing their projects, if they did not accept the militia's demands that were submitted to them through the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and through other means.

Since 2016, Mwatana Organization has documented incidents in which the Houthi militia closed at least three offices of international organizations in Saada that were working in the areas of food security, displacement and health.

The Houthi militia also suspended the operations of at least five local humanitarian organizations, expelled the directors of their offices, and prevented the implementation of their projects and activities, in addition to other projects that were focused on promoting access to water, education, health and women's empowerment.

Two humanitarian aid workers described another case that occurred in 2021, when the Houthi militia imposed a local partner organization - affiliated with a prominent figure in the militia - on an international organization working in the field of humanitarian relief, to manage the transportation and storage of aid for the international organization in Saada.

One of these relief workers said that in one of the incidents that occurred in 2021, the Houthi militia asked the beneficiaries to hand over about 70% of the materials they had obtained, so the local partner would then return the materials to warehouses belonging to the Houthi militia to be used as they wanted.

He added that the Houthi militia had taken one of the food commodities that the international organization intended to include in the components of the relief baskets, as the militia members said that they needed this commodity to feed the fighters on the fronts.

This has resulted in the beneficiaries being denied access to much-needed humanitarian assistance.

Beneficiaries also reported being concerned about their data being shared with the Houthi militia through humanitarian agencies.

Mwatana quoted one of the beneficiaries as saying that they were afraid to call the toll-free phone numbers that were used to file complaints about aid distribution, including potential exploitation, because Houthi militia supervisors warned them that their calls would be monitored.

The organization cited three forms of obstruction by the Houthi militia to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching those in need: preventing organizations from conducting humanitarian needs assessments;  Preventing humanitarian cash assistance projects, transferring aid to those loyal to it, in addition to imposing its own lists of beneficiaries of humanitarian aid projects.

Humanitarian workers said that the National Authority for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were interfering in the organizations' tenders and procurement operations in Saada.  Including the Supreme Council for the Administration and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs imposing local service providers and partners on organizations - often organizations owned by elements of the Houthi militia.

Relief workers explained that the Houthi militia used to require organizations to use local organizations associated with them to deliver relief materials and implement relief projects.

The Houthi militia was also interfering with recruitment processes in organizations in Saada. In one case documented by Mwatana, the militia forced an international organization to appoint a manager of their choice in their office in Saada.