Yemen's authorities are obstructing aid work and exacerbating a deadly cholera outbreak that is spreading across the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Parties to the conflict, including the Houthis, the Yemeni government, and the Southern Transitional Council (STC), have obstructed aid and access to information and have failed to take adequate preventative measures to mitigate the spread of cholera. Houthi security forces also have detained and threatened civil society staff, including humanitarian aid workers, in their recent arrest campaign.
Data collected by aid agencies indicate that between January 1 and July 19 there have been about 95,000 suspected cholera cases, resulting in at least 258 deaths, according to an individual working with the Yemen Health Cluster, a group of aid organizations, authorities, and donors led by the World Health Organization (WHO). All parties to the conflict should end their violations and abuses of Yemenis' right to health, and the Houthis should end their arbitrary detentions of civil society and humanitarian aid workers.
"The obstructions to aid work by Yemen's authorities, in particular the Houthis, are contributing to the spread of cholera," said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. "More than 200 people have already died from this preventable disease, and the Houthis' detention of aid workers poses a serious threat to further limit the presence of lifesaving aid."
