Press conference highlights rape, abduction crimes in Hodeidah

HODEIDAH, Oct. 17 (YPA) – A press conference was held in Hodeidah province on Thursday to highlight the rape and abduction crimes committed by Saudi-Emirati coalition forces against women and children in the province.

In the conference, Acting Governor Mohammed Ayash Quhim praised the conference idea to review the coalition crimes in the western coast in figures and facts, including the rape of women and children, the abduction of men, and to expose the aggression forces before the United Nations and its human rights and humanitarian organizations.

For her part, Director of the Human Rights Office in the province Amal Ma’jam said that the crimes and violations of the aggression coalition, the latest of which was in Tuhita district, were not the first in full view of the international community, which did nothing to stop and hold perpetrators accountable.

Ma’jam held the United Nations responsible for the continuation of those crimes and violations and their consequences and their direct and indirect effects on civilians.

Head of Tihama Organization for Human Rights and Heritage Abdul-Qader al-Maqbouli said that the aggression coalition had ignored international conventions and treaties over the past years, the latest of which was Sweden Agreement, in deliberate action to increase the suffering of civilians.

“The most prominent violations that have been monitored 685 cases of abduction and rape against children, women and men in the western coast, as well as violations in secret prisons of the aggression coalition,” said al-Maqbouli. “Among the crimes were 244 crimes of rape against children, women and men.”

Al-Maqbouli indicated that the kidnapping crimes amounted to 414 crimes, including 56 against women, 145 against children and 214 against men. He reviewed the crimes of rape committed by the aggression forces against women and children, which amounted to 443 crimes.

He stressed the importance of the continuation of local civil society organizations in activating protection for women and children as well as activating national, regional and international judicial prosecution procedures to ensure that perpetrators would not go unpunished.

YPA