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Dokument #2139264
Amnesty International (Autor)
Parties to the conflict in Yemen continued to arbitrarily detain, forcibly disappear and unjustly prosecute people who criticized their human rights records and policies, including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers. The USA and Israel carried out attacks that killed civilians. The Huthi de facto authorities carried out mass arrests of aid workers. The Southern Transitional Council de facto authorities cracked down on peaceful protests. All parties to the conflict failed to protect economic and social rights amid international funding cuts that further worsened the humanitarian crisis. Women and girls continued to experience gender-based violence and discrimination. Prosecutions of LGBTI people continued. Parties to the conflict contributed to environmental degradation.
Despite the UN-brokered ceasefire, parties to the conflict sporadically attacked civilian areas and frontlines including in Ta’iz, Lahj, Hodeidah and Hadramout governorates.
Between 15 March and 6 May, the USA conducted further air and naval strikes in Yemen, coined Operation Rough Rider, in response to the Huthi de facto authorities’ attacks on shipping. US air strikes killed at least 224 civilians, according to estimates by the independent organization Airwars.
On 18 March the Huthis resumed missile and drone attacks on Israel. While most were intercepted by Israeli defence systems, on 4 May four people were reportedly injured in a Huthi missile strike near the main terminal of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. On 24 September a Huthi drone attack near a hotel in Eilat reportedly injured more than 20 people.
In July the Huthis resumed attacks on commercial ships, sinking two Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged vessels in the Red Sea, killing at least three crew members.
Between May and September, Israel carried out strikes on major infrastructure in northern Yemen. The Civilian Impact Monitoring Project reported that hundreds of civilians were killed and injured as a result. An Israeli strike in the capital, Sana’a, on 28 August killed the Huthi Prime Minster Ahmad al-Rahawi, nine ministers and two cabinet officials.
An average of one child was killed or injured every day during the year, according to Save the Children, most by air strikes. More than twice the number of children were killed in 2025 compared to 2024.
On 28 April a US air strike hit a migrant detention centre in Sa’ada, north-western Yemen, killing and injuring dozens of African migrants being detained by the Huthi de facto authorities. Many survivors were left with life-changing injuries including head trauma, spinal injuries and loss of limbs. An investigation by Amnesty International concluded that the strike amounted to an indiscriminate attack that should be promptly and transparently investigated as a war crime.1
In August, US Central Command responded to Amnesty International’s questions about the attack saying it was “assessing all reports of civilian harm resulting from operations during that time period”. However, despite promises to do so, the USA had not released results of these assessments by the end of the year.
The Huthi de facto authorities escalated their targeting of civil society organizations, UN staff, and journalists who criticized them. The Huthis carried out multiple waves of arrests in areas under their control, arbitrarily detaining at least dozens of UN staff. By December, according to the UN, this brought the total number of its staff arbitrarily detained by the Huthis since 2021 to 69.
Dozens of staff members from Yemeni and international civil society organizations rounded up by the Huthis over the previous year remained detained without charge and without adequate access to their lawyers or families.2
On 11 February a detained aid worker from the World Food Programme died in Huthi custody.3
In May the Huthis arrested six journalists and media activists in Hodeidah, according to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
On 24 May the Sana’a based Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) convicted Mohammed al-Mayahi of spreading false and misleading news. He was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison according to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
Also in May, the Huthi authorities issued a decision prohibiting any media outlet or content creator from filming or conducting field interviews in Sana’a without obtaining prior authorization from the Huthi-run Ministry of Information.
On 25 September the Huthis arbitrarily detained prominent human rights lawyer Abdul Majid Sabra for social media posts marking the 26 September national anniversary. The Huthis also stopped people at checkpoints and searched their phones for content related to the anniversary and arrested dozens of people in northern governorates who celebrated the day.4
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) de facto authorities cracked down on assembly in areas under their control. In May and June, women led peaceful protests in Aden demanding socio-economic rights, sparked by frequent outages of electricity and water. On various occasions, STC security forces used excessive force against protesters, unlawfully restricted the movement of protests and prevented protesters from taking photos or videos.
On 17 May the STC Aden security committee issued a ban on all protests and public events in Aden until “conditions are met to ensure their peacefulness and the organizers’ compliance with legal regulations”.
On 14 June, STC-affiliated security forces arbitrarily arrested women human rights defenders Maha Awad and Afraa Harriri during a peaceful protest in Mu’alla district in Aden. They were held briefly at al-Mu’alla police station before being released.
On 18 January, journalist Ahmad Maher was released from Bir Ahmad prison in Aden following his acquittal on 25 December 2024 by the Aden-based Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) of Appeal. He had been sentenced by the SCC in May 2024 to four years in prison following a grossly unfair trial on charges of disseminating false and misleading news – a crime that is not recognized under international law – and forging identity documents.5
STC de facto authorities continued to arbitrarily detain journalist Naseh Shaker, who was forcibly disappeared in November 2023, according to Marsadak, a Yemeni observatory for media freedoms.
The internationally recognized government continued its harassment and prosecution of journalists in areas under its control. Between January and October in Hadramout and Ta’iz governorates, 10 journalists were either summoned for investigation or arbitrarily detained for publishing content that was deemed critical of the authorities, according to the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.
The collapsing economy and deteriorating public services, the ongoing conflict, increasingly frequent climate shocks and humanitarian funding cuts severely affected people’s economic and social rights, including access to food, health and water.
Access to food remained severely restricted. According to the World Food Programme, severe food deprivation continued to affect 34% of households nationwide. Yemen was the “world’s third most food insecure context”, according to OCHA.
Yemen continued to suffer one of the world’s most severe cholera emergencies. Between March 2024 and August 2025, more than 332,000 suspected cases and 1,073 associated deaths were reported across the country, according to OCHA.
Abrupt and irresponsible US cuts to foreign assistance threatened the health and human rights of millions of people in Yemen who depended on humanitarian aid. It also ended life-saving assistance and protection services, including malnutrition treatment and healthcare services for children suffering from cholera and other illnesses.6
The Huthis exacerbated the humanitarian crisis by repeatedly conducting mass arrests of and arbitrarily detaining UN aid workers and other humanitarian staff working to deliver life-saving services in northern Yemen.
People in southern Yemen, including in Aden, Hadramout and Ta’iz governorates, experienced frequent and widescale outages of water and electricity and deteriorating basic services, undermining their right to an adequate standard of living.
Heavy rains and flooding in governorates including Ma’rib, Mahwit, Hodeidah and Ta’iz caused deaths, destroyed homes and livelihoods, exacerbated internal displacement and left hundreds of people without shelter, food and clean water.
Women and girls across Yemen continued to face systemic discrimination and gender-based violence. Yemen had no legal minimum age of marriage, and almost one-third of women were married before the age of 18. Child marriage was associated with a lifetime of human rights harms. Around 5 million women faced difficulty accessing reproductive health services with nearly 200 women dying for every 100,000 births, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
By March, USAID funding cuts had already forced the closure of dozens of safe spaces designed to prevent or respond to gender-based violence across Yemen. By July, dozens of health facilities and reproductive health and protection clinics were also forced to close, denying hundreds of thousands of women and girls – including survivors of gender-based violence – access to crucial healthcare, psycho-social support and legal aid, according to UNFPA.
In addition to the funding cuts, the US designation of the Huthis as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” led international organizations running life-saving programmes that provided support to malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women to suspend operations in Huthi-controlled areas.
The Huthi de facto authorities continued to restrict women’s right to freedom of movement without the accompaniment or written approval of a male guardian (mahram). This restricted women’s right to work, among many other discriminatory effects.
Yemen’s Criminal Code (1994) continued to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations. Article 264 punishes anal sex with 100 lashes and up to one year in prison if the accused are not married. The punishment is death by stoning if the accused are married. Article 268 punishes sex between women with up to three years in prison.
On 20 January the Huthi-run SCC in Sana’a sentenced 18 men to death, while 113 other men were handed prison sentences of between two-and-a-half and 15 years on various charges including “prostitution”, “posing as women” and “immoral acts”.
The Huthis’ attacks on shipping posed significant environmental risks, threatening marine life and the livelihoods of coastal communities.
On 6 and 7 July, the Huthis attacked the MV Magic Seas and MV Eternity-C respectively. Both bulk carriers sank leaving massive oil slicks, according to Pax for Peace.
US and Israeli air strikes on Ras Isa oil terminal and Israeli attacks on power infrastructure, including Ras Kathib, Hezyaz and Dhahaban power stations and fuel storage facilities, caused explosions and large fires, threatening air quality and soil and water contamination.
In Shabwa governorate, damage to an oil pipeline connecting Ayaz oil field with al Nashima port continued to cause severe pollution, as large quantities of spilled crude oil contaminated agricultural land and groundwater, according to the local authority in al Rawda district.
© Amnesty International
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