On May 5, 2017, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the Global Justice Clinic joined a group of prominent human rights and civil liberties organizations in signing an open letter to UN Security Council ambassadors raising serious concerns about intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders in Yemen.

The organizations expressed concern about recent efforts by the Government of Yemen to silence renowned Yemeni civil society leaders by waging baseless accusations against them that have undermined their work and put their freedom and lives at risk. They also raised alarm at the continued arbitrary arrest, detention, and harassment of advocates by the Houthi-Saleh forces in northern Yemen.

The letter requested that UN Security Council Ambassadors support Yemeni human rights defenders by urging all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of human rights defenders, and the Government of Yemen in particular to uphold its international commitments to protect its citizens and civil society.

The coalition of rights and civil liberties groups include Amnesty International, Article 19, Article 36, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, Life for Relief and Development, International Service for Human Rights, Open Society Foundations, PAX, Rights Watch (UK), and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Read the full letter.

Photo Credit: Radhya Almutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights. Source: Lydia Noon/New Internationalist Magazine.