• Yemen’s Other Crises
    Commentary
    May 22, 2012
    When the Friends of Yemen group meets Wednesday in Riyadh, representatives from the US, the EU and Gulf states are likely to focus on this week’s suicide bombing in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, that killed nearly 100 soldiers and shook the fledging transition government. But international attention should not only be focused on al Qaeda and its affiliates—the need to hold human rights violators to account and a deepening humanitarian crisis should also be high on their agenda.
  • Jordan: Don’t Deport Eritrean Refugees to Yemen
    Press release
    May 15, 2012
    Jordanian authorities are about to deport nine detained Eritrean refugees, including a 7-year-old girl, to Yemen where they risk indefinite detention and possibly deportation to persecution in Eritrea. Jordan should allow the group to remain in Jordan and give the United Nations refugee agency access to the refugees.
  • Yemen: Detained, Tortured, and Disappeared
    Press release
    May 7, 2012
    Yemeni security forces have arbitrarily detained dozens of demonstrators and other perceived opponents of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since anti-government protests began in February 2011. Human Rights Watch documented 37 cases in which security forces have held people for days, weeks, or months without charge, including 20 who were picked up or remained behind bars after the November 2011 power transfer.
  • Yemen: Militants Should End Threat to Kill Captives
    Press release
    Apr 25, 2012
    A Yemeni armed group linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula should immediately retract its threat to execute 73 captured government soldiers. Ansar al-Sharia (“Partisans of Islamic Law”) threatened to kill the soldiers if authorities do not agree to swap them for detained Islamist militants.
  • US: Transfer CIA Drone Strikes to Military
    Press release
    Apr 20, 2012
    Remarks by a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official suggesting the agency is not legally bound by the laws of war underscore the urgent need for the Obama administration to transfer command of all aerial drone strikes to the armed forces.
  • How to Help Yemen Come Unstuck
    Commentary
    Apr 20, 2012

    Last week's shutdown of Sanaa's airport by security forces seeking to reverse President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi's dismissal of top brass loyal to the ancien regime exemplified exactly where Yemen is stuck.

  • Yemen: Transition Needs Accountability, Security Reform
    Press release
    Apr 6, 2012

    Yemen’s transition to a democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law is at risk unless the new government moves swiftly on security reform and accountability for past crimes.

  • Arab League: Carry Out, Monitor Syria Sanctions
    Press release
    Mar 29, 2012
    The League of Arab States should at its summit in Baghdad that began on March 27, 2012, commit to carrying out and monitoring the implementation of the targeted sanctions against the Syrian leadership it agreed to in November 2011.
  • Statement at the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Yemen
    Oral statement
    Mar 21, 2012

    Key challenges remain, including how to serve justice for crimes of the past. Yemen’s parliament in January 2012 granted complete amnesty to former President Saleh and near-complete amnesty to those who served with him.  This immunity violates Yemen’s international obligations to investigate serious human rights crimes.

  • Yemen: Ensure Rights Progress Follows Leadership Change
    Press release
    Feb 22, 2012

    Yemen’s incoming president, Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi, should take immediate steps to ensure Yemen’s transition to the rights-respecting democracy that thousands of protesters have sought.