Human Rights Department condemns Houthis violations against civilians in Qaatabah and villages of North Dhalea

The Human Rights Department at the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council issued a statement condemning the crimes and violations committed by Al-Houthi militias against the civilians in the city of Qaatabah and the villages of the northern province of Dhalea, as well as recruiting minor children on the fighting fronts, here it is:

 

Statement of condemnation

     The Human Rights Department at the General Secretariat of the Southern Transitional Council follows with great concern the current events going on in the north of Al-Dhalea city by the Houthis militias, who are targeting the civilians in Qaatabah city by mortar shells as a reaction to the progress of the southern resistance, as well as targeting the civilians in the villages of Al-Dalea city by missiles and sniping weapons, of which targeted the old citizen Zahra Hamid in Azareq district.

    The Department observed that the Houthis group recruited a large number of children who are less than the legal age and put them on the fighting fronts, which caused to killing some of them and some others were arrested, while this act is considered a flagrant violation for  human rights and a clear violation for the Convention for the Child Rights Protection and an explicit violation for the rules of international Humanitarian Law specially The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the Protection of Civilians during the armed conflict and the annexed Additional Protocol.

    Accordingly, the Human Rights Department condemns strongly these criminal acts, which are targeting safe civilians in places of armed conflict and condemns the forced recruitment of children who are less than the legal age.

   The Human Rights Department calls the International Organizations,  at the top the United Nations and the International Organizations concerned with the protection of children to intervene urgently and put an end to such criminal acts.

  The Human Rights Department at the Council calls all the Local Civil Societies to support the civilians in places of conflict and to stand against the crimes of the Houthis group and to monitor their violations and pressure on them to stop targeting the civilians and the compulsory recruitment of minor children.

 

Issued by the Human Rights Department of the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council