STC Assistant Secretary-General Meets with OHCHR Human Rights Officer

Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Haidara al-Shaqqi, Assistant Secretary-General of the Secretariat and Coordination Body Affairs, met today, Monday, in the capital, Aden, with Mr. Badr Farouq, Human Rights Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to discuss aspects of cooperation in the field of strengthening human rights capacity-building and exchanging information related to human rights. 

Mr. Al-Shaqqi reviewed the violations that the people of the South suffered over the past decades, starting with the war of occupation of the South in 1994 and the subsequent campaigns of repression and violations that reached their peak during the peaceful movement, all the way to the invasion of the South by the Houthi militias and terrorist organizations in 2015.

Al-Shaqqi underscored the importance of conveying a realistic and accurate portrayal of the situation in the capital, Aden, and throughout the governorates of the South, highlighting the Houthi militia's escalating human rights abuses that are now affecting all individuals, regardless of whether they are Southerners, aid workers, or international staff, who are exposed to arbitrary arrests and assassinations in Houthi-controlled areas and Brotherhood.

For his part, Mr. Farouq praised the STC's efforts in documenting violations, affirming the importance of continued meetings and cooperation in the field of human rights and joint work to monitor and address violations, and highlighted the importance of organizing training and capacity-building courses for STC staff working in the human rights sector to familiarize them and enhance their knowledge on the role of human rights and humanitarian organizations, as well as methods of collecting and monitoring violations.

The meeting was attended on behalf of the STC by Dr. Mihammad Ba-Sarda, Head of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Department of the Secretariat, Dr. Najeeb Qaid, Director of the Department of International Organizations and Human Rights at the Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Authority (FEAA) of the STC; Dr. Thaer Ammar, Human Rights Officer at the UNHCR in the capital, Aden, and Mr. Nasser Al-Shuaibi, coordinator and official of the UNHCR.