‘I cried for days’: Care raids and arrested shock support workers in Yemen

When Hana arrived at work a few months ago, she found “the drawer and doors collapsed, and the boss was surrounded by security personnel”.

Computer, phone, camera and documents were all seized, his boss was arrested and the organization’s bank account was eventually frozen.

Hana works for an American-funded non-governmental organization (NGO) in Yemen, which supports women empowerment and trains people to solve problems through interactions.

But the country’s Civil War, which has lasted for more than a decade and has created one of the worst human crises in the world, has made life rapidly dangerous for NGO workers.

In the last few months, workers from other local and international NGOs, as well as workers from other local and international NGOs, have been detained by the rebels.

A wave of arrest in January has intensified the climate of fear – a person from the World Food Program was kept in custody.

The situation has left human workers who feel that their freedom of movement is very restricted. As a result, many organizations, including the United Nations, are operating back, threatening to create life for people already destroyed by the war.

Ten years ago, Iranian -backed Hurti militants seized control of most parts of the west of Yemen, including the capital Sana, from the internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia has since been carried out intense aerial attacks on its neighbor – with logical and intelligence support from the US and Britain – to try to prevent the entire nation from controlling the entire country.

It was an officer of Hauthi who raided Hana’s office and detained her boss, and she is afraid of vengeance if she speaks out. Therefore, for their safety, we have changed the names of Hana and others in Yemen who interviewed for this article.

By tightening the human workers, Hana believes that the purpose of the holes is to spread fear among the public. But what he does deeply is that how the public reacted.

“When I investigated social media, it was terrible to find out that people see us as a detective,” she says.

A day after his boss was detained, Hana was glued to his TV, a Pro-Huthi channel, which he described as a statement of detective, which was created by nine locals. Was, who once worked in a long -closed American embassy in Sanaa. He was arrested in 2021.

This was the moment when he feared that things would deteriorate for him, as he worked for an American-funded NGO. He decided to leave his house in northern Yemen.

By the time she reached the south, she was feeling shocked. “I couldn’t eat for three days, I could not sleep. I could not stop crying,” she says.

He is now concerned that US President Donald Trump’s decision to re-nominate Hauthis as a terrorist organization can lead him to target everyone working in American-funded projects.

Once someone is arrested, according to Yamani’s lawyer Abdulziz, it can be difficult for him to get any support for those who represents 14 detainees. They have been behind bars for several months – three are United Nations employees, while other local NGOs are employed. “During the first three months of custody, my customers did not communicate with anyone,” they say.

Abdulziz is increasingly worried that his hideouts are still unknown. Recently, he says that his customers were able to call some brief phone calls to their families. “Each call was between five and 10 minutes,” they explain.

The BBC contacted Houthis to ask for their treatment of help workers, but no response was received.

In addition to the prevention, lifestyle aid from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been stopped as a result of President Trump’s freeze on the operation of the organization worldwide, as a result of allegations of waste and allegations of misuse of money.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the impact of President Trump’s policies and arbitrary arrests of Hauthis is “less than destructive”. This “will have a large -scale and dramatic effect on the aid provision in Yemen”, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher of the organization Nicu Jafrania.

According to HRW, the US was funding a third of humanitarian aid in Yemen, most of its part was through USAID. Between 2015 and 2021, it provided more than $ 3.6 billion, making it the largest single donor of humanitarian aid in the country, according to the United Nations.

“Cutting aid will be a death sentence for us,” Nine’s mother Amal warned. She along with thousands of other families stays in a camp for internal displaced people in northern Yemen.

Even on the phone, it is clear what a heavy burden this woman is. His slow speech is full of spirit. It is about 10 years when he has lost his house.

Amal supports his huge family. Her husband has intense asthma, so she cannot work. After the struggle began, the family had to run to their hometown north.

Since then, life has been rapid for them. The camp on barren desert lands rarely resembles a house. His only shelter is a wearing plastic tent, with no chairs or beds. It is difficult for his children to find happiness in a place that lacks almost everything.

“If this supply line provided by the NGO is cut, my children can die. We have no jobs, no income, nothing,” Amal says.

According to the Charity UNICEF of the United Nations children, almost half of the population has a bad need for humanitarian aid, including about 10 million children. The United Nations Human Development Index lists Yemen as one of the 10 least developed countries in the world.

Implementation tells us that she receives a monthly food basket from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), but it lasts for two weeks. When they run out of food, she says that her only option is to leave the camp and begging on the streets of the city. She passes through restaurants and shops, expecting some rotis bread or a packet of rice.

“I am covered with shame, but should I leave my children to stay hungry? I am completely helpless,” tells the staff. Held help often takes its toll on it. “I cry a lot when I realize that I don’t have a penny,” she says, her voice is both pain and bitter.

A large number of children are suffering from diarrhea and pneumonia due to poor hygiene, malnutrition and unhappy conditions, but enough medication is rarely available.

In a clinic in the northern Yemen, in the shelves where the drugs should be empty. Employees told us that they have nothing compared to medical stock people needs.

The BBC approached the United Nations on the current aid distribution process and recent arrest, but received no response.

However, while addressing the United Nations Security Council, United Nations special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg condemned the custody of his employees, “not only violation of fundamental human rights, but also a direct threat to the United Nations of the United Nations. There is also a direct danger to distribute the most aid. He also called for the immediate release of all the prisoners, whether from the United Nations or other local and international NGOs.

It is for families like implementation that Hana and their colleagues try to improve life.

She proudly recalls how she sent girls to school in one of the conservative northern regions. When the parents complained about the neighbors, about their daughters being able to see during the break time, “We discussed among the residents, and eventually agreed to cover the playground, so that Girls can go back to class “, she tells.

He is afraid that the absence of this support may increase the rates of illiteracy due to fear and lack of funds. “We are the only ones that survived during the collapse of the state, so that to serve people,” Hana says with an ah.

The names of Hana, Abdulziz and Amal were changed for this article.