Understanding the Houthi Detention Strategy in Yemen: From Local Control to Global Leverage
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Speakers:
Niku Jafarnia – Yemen & Bahrain Researcher · Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Baraa Shiban – Associate Fellow · Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Linda Al Obahi – Senior Political Affairs and Mediation Adviser · Peace Track Initiative (PTI)
Moderated by:
Sadeq al-Wesabi – Senior Fellow · WCYS
Event Recap:
On February 12, 2025, WCYS hosted an event titled “Understanding the Houthi Detention Strategy: From Local Control to Global Leverage.” The panel discussion shed light on the Houthis’ escalating use of enforced disappearances and detentions to consolidate power and influence international negotiations. Experts underscored the systematic nature of these actions and the urgent need for a stronger global response.
Current Detention Crisis
The Houthis have escalated their detention campaign against Yemeni activists and expanded it to reach UN staff. Panelists noted that their arbitrary detentions represent a significant escalation of existing repressive practices and mirror practices of Tehran’s IRGC. Since May 2024, dozens of UN staff, aid workers, and civil society activists have been arbitrarily detained by the Houthi militia in various parts of Yemen. The recent death of WFP staff member Ahmed Baalawi in Saada detention highlights the severe situation that the detainees are subjected to in Houthi jails and raises questions about their torture and lack of due process. Panelists noted that the Houthis frequently use baseless espionage allegations as justification, exploiting regional tensions and the Gaza conflict to frame detentions as counter-intelligence measures. Baraa Shaiban noted that their detention system operates through a network of “ghost” supervisors who often act independently of central leadership. As Shiban pointed out, “If you have a UN agency who had already reached some form of understanding with one part of the Houthis, that doesn’t mean that they have insured the safety of their staff.”
Impact on Humanitarian Operations
The UN and humanitarian organizations face an impossible situation: they must maintain aid delivery to millions who depend on it while protecting staff from arbitrary detention. One of the panelists, Niku Jafarnia, pointed out that the Houthis have systematically sought control over humanitarian operations, particularly targeting staff with access to data, IT systems, and beneficiary information in order to tighten their control on UN-beneficiary lists, which is a concerning move. Aid diversion remains a serious concern, though lack of transparency makes the full scope difficult to assess. The UN’s recent suspension of operations in Saada raises questions about security guarantees across all Houthi-controlled areas. Jafarnia specifically challenged this selective approach: “What I’m confused about is the fact that security cannot be assured across all of Houthi-controlled territory… I don’t understand why we’re not also saying that security can’t be assured in the rest of Houthi control territory as well.”
International Response Challenges
Despite strong language in UN Resolution 2730 and the recent FTO designation, concrete action has been limited, and the international community’s response is complicated by fears that pressure could worsen the humanitarian crisis. Previous removal of sanctions failed to secure concessions from the Houthis. The panelists noted that the UN’s approach has often involved appeasing Houthi demands rather than leveraging humanitarian assistance as a point of influence. As Shiban noted: “The international community had dealt with the Houthis not from the point of leverage. It’s the Houthis who need this support at this critical moment.” Coordination among international actors appears fragmented, with no clear strategy emerging after eight months of detentions.
Gender and Social Impact
Women detainees face severe social stigma that persists long after release, effectively amounting to social death in Yemeni society. Since 2018, over 172 cases of kidnapping, arbitrary detention, and torture targeting women human rights defenders have been documented (the actual violations are much higher.) Linda Al-Obahi articulated this reality: “For men, detention is injustice. But for women, it’s a social death. We know that many detained women never regained their place in the society once released.” Families of detainees often stay silent due to safety concerns and social pressure. The impact creates lasting trauma within communities and effectively silences women’s voices in civil society.
Local Leadership and International Support
Panelists agreed that any sustainable solution must be Yemeni-led while maintaining international backing. The international community’s role should be supporting local mechanisms rather than imposing external frameworks. Shiban emphasized this point: “That’s the misconception that has happened, that it is the role of the international community to do a framework for the Yemenis. I think that’s not their role, and that’s not what they’re supposed to do.” Current approaches have often sidelined Yemeni civil society expertise. The lack of safe return options for many civil society actors to Houthi-controlled areas has created a significant gap in local advocacy and monitoring.
Accountability Crisis
The dissolution of the UN Group of Eminent Experts in recent years created an accountability vacuum. Yemen’s divided territory makes domestic legal remedies ineffective – violations in Houthi-controlled areas cannot be addressed in government courts and vice versa. Previous UN monitoring mechanisms have been compromised, with several field monitors now themselves in detention. The lack of investigative mechanisms makes it difficult to establish circumstances around deaths in detention or document systematic abuses.
Systemic Challenges
The humanitarian crisis cannot be resolved while the conflict continues. Previous humanitarian compromises with the Houthis have led to increased control over aid operations. Linda Al-Obahi emphasized: “These detentions are not random. They are not about security. This is just a strategy, a tool of power, a tool of control, and also negotiation.” The Houthis have systematically worked to gain control over education systems, data collection, and civil society activities. Their detention practices aim to both maintain local control and gain international leverage. Baraa Shiban highlighted the unprecedented nature of current practices: “We didn’t have that great record of human rights in Yemen, yes, but we didn’t normally have people being arbitrarily detained, being tortured, people die in prison, and people go out, leave prison with permanent disabilities. This is a new phenomenon.” The international community’s focus on immediate aid delivery has sometimes come at the cost of addressing these systemic issues.
Key Takeaways:
1. Arbitrary Detentions as a Political Strategy
- Targeting UN staff, civil society members and humanitarian workers has become a deliberate strategy to extract political concessions.
- The use of espionage accusations mirrors tactics employed by other regional militias, further entrenching a climate of fear.
2. Inadequate International Response
- Panelists criticized the global community’s weak and uncoordinated response to Houthi abuses.
- Despite strong statements, the absence of tangible enforcement emboldens further escalation.
- The UN’s operations under Houthi control raise concerns about aid manipulation and restricted transparency.
3. Gendered Impact of Detentions
- Female detainees endure severe social stigma and silencing, making reintegration particularly difficult even after release.
- Advocacy efforts must incorporate gender-sensitive protections to support affected women and their families.
4. Strengthening Local and International Accountability
- There is an urgent need for an independent investigative mechanism to document and hold perpetrators accountable.
- Yemeni civil society organizations must be empowered to take a leading role in advocacy and documentation.
Recommendation for Action:
- For the International Community: Apply coordinated diplomatic pressure, enforce accountability mechanisms, and support local Yemeni advocacy efforts.
- For Humanitarian Organizations: Ensure transparency, protect staff, and reassess operations to prevent aid diversion.
- For Yemeni Civil Society: Lead advocacy initiatives, amplify detainees’ voices, and push for stronger legal protections.
- For the Government of Yemen: Increase pressure on the Houthis, establish alternative humanitarian channels to prevent aid diversion, engage effectively on the international stage for accountability, and support civil society advocacy.
Conclusion:
The discussion underscored that humanitarian aid is not a crime and that enforced disappearances must never be normalized or condoned. The experts strongly called for immediate, coordinated, and more stringent international action to secure the release of detainees, uphold fundamental humanitarian principles, and ensure that perpetrators are held fully accountable.
