It is expected that this week in the Jordanian capital, Amman, a round of consultations will begin between representatives of the Yemeni government and representatives of the Houthi coup militia in an effort to find a consensus to complete the implementation of the rest of the provisions of the humanitarian truce, especially with regard to lifting the siege on the city of Taiz and opening vital roads in the seam areas.
While the Houthis announced that their representatives would go to Amman on Sunday to attend the consultations, the Yemeni government had identified its representatives after the truce came into effect, which expires on the second of next month, in light of international hopes to extend it and build on it to launch multiple tracks of consultations aimed at finding lasting peace.
Meanwhile, Yemeni activists and human rights activists launched a wide campaign on social media to demand the lifting of the siege on Taiz, in conjunction with the signing of a statement by 26 human rights organizations calling for international pressure to force the Houthis to end the siege on the city.
The statement called on the international community, in its countries, bodies, institutions and alliances, to pay adequate attention to the file of the siege of the city of Taiz and the humanitarian crisis in it, and to make it a priority of its tasks to end the war in Yemen, given the central importance of this file in the Yemeni crisis, where a number of political problems interact in Taiz The most important manifestations of the humanitarian crisis and human rights violations.
The statement said, “The city of Taiz has been subjected to a suffocating siege since 2015, in light of an international engagement that makes lifting this siege and alleviating the suffering of civilians in it a sub-issue that receives little attention, with promises that are soon repudiated, and this file is only considered. In some margins of international efforts and discussions to end the war in Yemen, even though the city is living in the harshest conditions of war, and where all the features of the humanitarian crisis are embodied, and where most human rights violations and war crimes are committed.
The human rights organizations that are partners in the campaign accused local, regional and international human rights organizations of negligence in the issue of lifting the siege on the city of Taiz, and said in their statement, “Although the rest of the terms and conditions of the truce are constantly being worked on, and the media deals with them daily; However, the lifting of the siege on the city of Taiz has been neglected and ignored for a long time.
According to the statistics of the Taiz Human Rights Center; 3,590 civilians were killed in Taiz, including 761 children, 347 women and 289 the elderly, and 13,736 others were injured, including 3,155 children, 1,180 women and 764 elderly, during the years from 2015 to 2020, as a result of the bombing and sniping carried out by the Houthis, and the Rasd Coalition documented the killing and wounding of 366 A child in Taiz, aged between one and 17 years, was shot by Houthi snipers during the period from March 2015 to August 2020.
Civilians in Taiz – according to the human rights campaign – are being targeted by the Houthi group’s fire, either with artillery and missile shelling; Or by sniper fire stationed on the mountains, hills, and rooftops surrounding the city, without distinguishing between children, women, the elderly, men and youth. Activists, workers in relief organizations, journalists, and media professionals are being targeted inside the city, either by bombing, sniping, or assassinations, to prevent them from conveying the truth, revealing and documenting violations, or presenting Aid to civilians.
The blockade, according to human rights organizations, is represented in “violating freedom of movement, preventing movement between the center of the governorate and its countryside and other governorates by closing the main and secondary roads and outlets, building barricades and barriers, digging trenches in them, and diverting their paths to long, rugged, remote and twisted roads, where civilians are not left to reach the city.” Only one main port, which was opened after long battles in 2015 and 2016, while civilians from all regions are forced to turn in long distances and crowded and unpaved roads to reach it.
The Houthi siege of the city of Taiz has stopped the arrival of basic and necessary materials, including water, food, medicine and medical supplies, and humanitarian aid is confiscated and prevented from reaching, and relief organizations and agencies and the provision of humanitarian aid have been prevented from reaching civilians affected by the war and siege, which has led to a scarcity or lack of materials The basic and necessary items in the city’s markets and their high prices with the low purchasing power of the stranded citizens, and most of them lost their sources of income and jobs.
In addition to the deterioration of the health sector in the city due to the siege, the participants in the human rights campaign said that the siege has caused huge economic losses, as the residents’ losses are estimated at nearly 40 billion riyals of their income, in addition to more than 500,000 hours they spend on the roads, and access costs have increased. On health and education services, many of them had to travel outside the city to obtain them (a dollar is about 600 riyals in Houthi-controlled areas).
The Yemeni organizations that are partners in the human rights campaign stressed that the file of the siege of Taiz and the humanitarian crisis in it should be a top priority in efforts to end the war, and the need for clarity and frankness of the positions of all concerned parties in this regard, and for these positions to be embodied by condemning the siege, pressing for its end, and dealing with This crisis is with great seriousness and interest, as happens with the rest of the other files within the declared humanitarian truce, such as the opening of Sana’a airport, the unification of banking operations, and the initiation of negotiations and consultations.
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