UN condemns rape crimes committed by UAE-backed militis

ADEN, Sept. 21 (YPA) – The United Nations has officially condemned the United Arab Emirates and its militia groups in the occupied Aden and other provinces in southern Yemen for rape and sexual abuse against women, children and men.

According to a report by the UN Panel of Experts on Security, the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) Militia was implicated in rape, sexual abuse and violence against women.

“We verified that the security belt forces raped five women and four girls, and that 12 boys and three men were subjected to forced nudity, two women and two girls were subjected to other forms of sexual violence,” UN Experts said in his third recent report on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

“There are serious concerns about other allegations that security forces raped 30 women, girls and 3 boys,” the report said

“These sexual violations attributed to the security belt were verified during the completion of previous investigations into the mass arrests carried out by the Security Belt Forces,” the team said.

“The UAE-backed Belt militias arrested migrants on national security grounds at temporary facilities in Lahj and Aden from March to July 2019,”the report noted

A girl was raped on multiple occasions over a period of 13 days by 28 soldiers, including gang rapes by several male soldiers,” said one survivor.

In its second report in 2019, the UN team of experts on the humanitarian situation in Yemen said 200 detainees had been raped in UAE-supervised prisons in Aden.

E.M