Latifa Jamel, President of the American Center for Justice (ACJ), strongly condemned the Houthi militia’s obstruction of sanitation trucks attempting to reach the designated landfill outside Taiz, warning that the restrictions could trigger a serious environmental and public health crisis in a city already devastated by years of siege.
According to Dr. Ilan Abdulhaq, Taiz’s Deputy Governor for Health Affairs, Houthi forces prevented sanitation crews from accessing the Al-Saleh Gardens landfill on November 3, forcing the trucks to unload their waste at an alternative site near the city’s slaughterhouse facilities.
“After more than a decade of siege, the Houthis are now preventing the people of Taiz from removing garbage from their own city,” Jamel said. “How much more suffering must this population endure? Denying an entire city the means to protect itself from disease is an appalling act of collective punishment.”
Jamel warned that obstructing waste disposal threatens to turn residential neighborhoods into breeding grounds for disease. Accumulated garbage, contaminated surroundings, and the proliferation of insects and rodents increase the risk of infectious diseases, including cholera, particularly among children and families already struggling with inadequate healthcare, limited resources, and deteriorating living conditions.
“The Houthis are fully aware of the health consequences of allowing waste to accumulate in a populated city. Yet they continue to obstruct its removal,” Jamel said. “They bear direct responsibility for exposing civilians to these dangers. This is a grave violation of the people’s right to health, dignity, and safe living conditions.”
Jamel emphasized that the obstruction of essential sanitation services must be examined in the context of the prolonged Houthi siege of Taiz. She described the restrictions as part of a continuing pattern of collective punishment that has deprived civilians of basic necessities and placed their lives and well-being at risk.
She stressed that collective punishment is prohibited under international humanitarian law and that those responsible for ordering or enforcing unlawful restrictions must face accountability.
Jamel demanded that the Houthi militia immediately remove all obstacles preventing sanitation trucks from reaching the designated landfill and guarantee the safety of sanitation workers. She also called on the United Nations, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and international human rights organizations to document these violations, assess the environmental and health consequences, and pursue meaningful accountability for those responsible.
“The people of Taiz have endured years of siege, deprivation, and isolation. Now they face the prospect of disease because the Houthis are preventing the removal of their waste,” Jamel said. “The international community must confront these violations with the seriousness they demand. The lives of civilians cannot remain at the mercy of a militia that continues to impose suffering on an entire city.”
Latifa Jamel
President, American Center for Justice (ACJ)
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