(1) Yemen Detentions; (2) Ethiopia Report; (3) New UN Human Rights Report On Transnational Female Genital Mutilation

Geneva

14 June 2024

(1) Yemen detentions

It has now been a week since six of our staff, among 13 UN personnel, were taken by the de facto authorities from their homes in the Yemeni cities of Sanaa, Hudaydah and Hajjah. Two of them are women. A number of other people working for national and international NGOs and other organisations supporting humanitarian activities have also been detained.

Since their detention on 6 June, the six UN Human Rights Office staff members have not had contact with their families, nor has the UN been able to access them or to receive individual confirmation of their detention. A reminder that two other UN human rights colleagues and two UNESCO staff were already being held incommunicado prior to the latest detentions. Dozens of other individuals have similarly been detained outside of any legal protection in recent days.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk remains deeply worried about the conditions in which they are being held, and demands their immediate and unconditional release. He stresses that the public broadcasting on 10 and 12 June of statements procured under circumstances of inherent duress from our colleague, detained incommunicado, and others detained since 2021 is totally unacceptable, and itself violates their human rights.

Targeting of human rights and humanitarian workers must cease immediately, and efforts should instead be stepped up to serve the needs of the 18.2 million people in Yemen who are currently in need of humanitarian aid and protection – needs that our detained colleagues were delivering on.

This Eid Al-Adha will be particularly difficult for the families of those detained, and for many others who now live in fear of being themselves detained. Again, the High Commissioner urges their immediate, unconditional release.

(2) Ethiopia report

High Commissioner Türk today called for concrete measures to halt the human rights violations and abuses that continue to endanger reconciliation and peace in Ethiopia.

“I urge the parties to the conflict to halt ongoing hostilities and to resolve difference through peaceful means. It is essential that the authorities take all feasible steps to protect civilians, prevent further violations, and ensure there are full investigations to bring those responsible to justice,” Türk said.

The High Commissioner’s call came as the UN Human Rights Office issued an update analysing the human rights situation across Ethiopia from January 2023 to January 2024.

To read the full press release, click here - https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/06/ethiopia-un-human-rights-chief-calls-sustained-efforts-halt-violations-and

(3) New report on transnational female genital mutilation

The global fight against female genital mutilation is being undermined by the practice of crossing national borders and beyond to have girls undergo the procedure, a new report from the UN Human Rights Office warns.

Although many States have intensified their efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM), the practice continues across the world, in part due to “the clandestine nature of cross-border and transnational FGM,” the report says.

“Female genital mutilation is part of a continuum of gender-based violence,” High Commissioner Türk said. “It must be eliminated in all of its forms, and the gender stereotypes and patriarchal norms that anchor and perpetuate it uprooted.”

Based on in-depth desk research and submissions from States and civil society organisations around the world, the report notes that an estimated 4.3 million girls were at risk of being subjected to FGM in 2023. More than 600,000 women in the European Union are thought to be living with the consequences of FGM.

To read the full press release, clock here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/06/un-report-urges-concerted-global-action-tackle-cross-border-and

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