SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties said that Yemeni women suffer from gross abuses and violations and that the war has come to multiply their suffering and add new - more severe - forms of violence against them, such as arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture, in addition to the suspicion that haunted all feminist activity.
SAM added that one of the most dangerous types of violence manifested by the war is the transformation of the Houthi militia, Yemeni women into a tool of violence, through the establishment of the Zinabiyat apparatus, which specializes in espionage, arrests, and home raiding, in addition to spreading a culture of hatred among women by dividing women into enemies and loyal to the Houthi group.
The organization confirmed that it has documented a large number of women arbitrarily detained by the Houthi militia, as it had issued a report on July 3, 2018, titled “What is remained left for us”, and it is about to issue a new report documenting the violations that Yemeni women are subjected to in light of the war.
SAM also indicated that conditions of war, absence of legal restrictions, and the absence of moral values, in addition to the difficult economic conditions in the country, have made many women victims of other forms of violence, including exploitation, sexual extortion, abduction, and recruitment for military, combat or espionage activities, as the organization documented many of these cases in some areas.
The organization said that some of the codes imposed by some authorities amount to violent behavior against women, such as the Houthi women’s dress code, preventing women from entering some cafes under the pretext of mingling with males, or imposing impeding conditions for some public activities, as happened to the activist Aisha Al-Jaidi in the city of Seiyun.
Electronic violence is a worrisome phenomenon against women in Yemen, where many women are subjected to verbal repression, especially if they express their opinions on public issues, which diminishing the public space before women in a country dominated by masculine culture.
The organization pointed to the apparent and sometimes negative deficiency in the work of the international and local community towards battered Yemeni women, which makes them hostage to fear and living needs, especially women who have been subjected to arbitrary arrests or abductions, which necessitates giving the battered women more attention in rehabilitation programs and living assistance.
SAM called for work to amend legislation and laws to ensure the elimination of all types of violence against women, and for the immediate release of all detainees in the prisons of the Houthi group, and an end to all violations, such as arbitrary detention, house raids, and torture inside prisons.
SAM also called on the international community to form committees to investigate the cases of women detained in prisons who were subjected to torture by the Houthi group and to hold the perpetrators accountable and bring them to justice.