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Tag: Children recruitment

  • “Freedom of Religion and Minorities in Yemen”: ACJ Documents Over 6,000 Violations, Systematic Persecution of Minorities, and Targeting of Clerics and Holy Sites (2014–2022)

    “Freedom of Religion and Minorities in Yemen”: ACJ Documents Over 6,000 Violations, Systematic Persecution of Minorities, and Targeting of Clerics and Holy Sites (2014–2022)

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) released an extensive investigative report titled “Freedom of Religion and Minorities in Yemen,” monitoring the collapse of religious freedoms and documenting systematic abuses against religious minorities, places of worship, and clerics across Yemen from March 2014 to September 2022. Based on field investigations, forensic verifications, primary court dossiers, and testimonies from victims and religious officials, the report documents 6,072 violations perpetrated by warring parties, with the Houthi movement and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) bearing primary responsibility alongside extremist groups.

    20221201 – Freedom of Religion and Minorities in Yemenتنزيل

    The report substantiates severe patterns of religious discrimination and forced displacement that have virtually eradicated historic minority communities. The indigenous Yemeni Jewish community has been decimated, reduced to merely six individuals following campaigns of arbitrary arrests, property confiscations, and forced expulsions orchestrated by the Houthi movement—including the ongoing arbitrary detention of Libby Salem Marhabi despite completing his judicial sentence. The Christian community faced armed assaults and terror attacks, notably the March 2016 massacre at an elderly care home in Aden by ISIS, which left 16 dead—including four Catholic missionary nuns—along with the burning of St. Joseph’s Church and the arbitrary detention and torture of Christian converts. Furthermore, the Baha’i community endured 141 documented violations by Houthi authorities, including 71 arbitrary arrests, property seizures, sham capital trials, and the forced expulsion and exile of six community leaders outside Yemen in July 2020. The report also details the sectarian siege and assault on the Salafi community of Dammaj in Saada (2011–2014), which killed 199 civilians, injured 599, and culminated in the forced displacement of over 5,000 residents.

    Targeting of religious leaders and sectarian purging form a central pillar of the findings. The ACJ verified the assassination and killing of 34 imams and mosque preachers: 22 executed in areas controlled by the STC in southern Yemen—corroborated by judicial confession dossiers linking armed hits to figures within the STC and UAE-funded structures—eight killed by Houthis, and four in Taiz. Enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions affected 227 preachers (171 by Houthis and 39 by the STC), while over 340 preachers were arbitrarily dismissed for ideological non-compliance. In northern regions, Houthi authorities forcibly subjected 1,113 civil and military public servants to mandatory sectarian indoctrination courses under penalty of job forfeiture, banned traditional Sunni religious practices (including Taraweeh prayers) in 411 instances, and arbitrarily altered the historic names of 36 mosques.

    20221001_الحريات الدينيةتنزيل

    Grave breaches against religious and cultural heritage include the complete detonation of 27 mosques and 15 Quranic schools exclusively by Houthi forces using high explosives, the armed conversion of 303 mosques into military barracks and detention cells, and the aerial and artillery bombardment of 125 places of worship (69 by Houthis and 46 by Arab Coalition airstrikes). Additionally, 17 ancient mosques, domes, and Sufi shrines were bulldozed or demolished on sectarian grounds by Houthis, Salafi formations under the Giants Brigades, the Abu al-Abbas group, and Al-Qaeda. Furthermore, 1,942 incidents of weaponizing religious pulpits to incite sectarian hatred and military mobilization were documented across all warring factions.

    The ACJ classifies these documented acts as war crimes and crimes against humanity under Article 7 and Article 8 of the Rome Statute, as well as flagrant breaches of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property. The Center calls on the international community to guarantee minority protections in all political settlement frameworks, hold perpetrators of religious violence and targeted assassinations judicially accountable, and compel the immediate evacuation of militarized shrines and mosques.

  • American Center for Justice (ACJ) Demands Independent Investigation into the Killing of Child Ammar Al-Shuraihi a Day After Interrogation by Houthi Militia

    American Center for Justice (ACJ) Demands Independent Investigation into the Killing of Child Ammar Al-Shuraihi a Day After Interrogation by Houthi Militia

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls for an independent and transparent investigation to uncover the circumstances surrounding the killing of a child, Ammar Yasser Al-Shuraihi, whose body was found next to a house in his village on October 22, one day after he was summoned and interrogated by Houthi militia gunmen.

    Preliminary information received by ACJ indicates that Houthi militia operatives summoned Al-Shuraihi for interrogation on October 21 and released him later that evening, before his family found him dead the following day. The incident occurred after the group imposed its military and security control over the victim’s home village of “Akamat Al-Ruhn” in the Jabal Sabir area, south of the besieged city of Taiz.

    This chronological sequence—spanning the child’s detention, interrogation, and the subsequent discovery of his body in a militarily and security-restricted zone—places direct responsibility on the Houthi group. It necessitates the immediate disclosure of the nature and conditions of the interrogation, the events preceding his death, and an inquiry into whether he was subjected to any form of ill-treatment or threats while in custody.

    ACJ stresses that subjecting children to security interrogations without legal safeguards and threatening their physical integrity and right to life constitute grave violations of international human rights law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Furthermore, ACJ holds the Houthi militia, exercising de facto military and security control over the village, fully legally responsible for the safety and protection of the civilian population in areas under its control.

    ACJ urges immediate measures to preserve forensic evidence at the crime scene and to protect witnesses and the victim’s family from any coercion that may obstruct the course of justice. The Center underscores the imperative of identifying the perpetrators, holding all those involved accountable, guaranteeing the Al-Shuraihi family’s right to full redress, and preventing impunity.

  • ACJ Study Documents Houthi Starvation Policies as War Crimes, Calls for UN Sanctions on Militia’s Financial Networks

    ACJ Study Documents Houthi Starvation Policies as War Crimes, Calls for UN Sanctions on Militia’s Financial Networks

    American Center for Justice (ACJ) Launches Human Rights Study Documenting How the Houthis Have Turned Impoverishment into a Tool of Governance and Military Subjugation in Yemen

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) today launched a human rights study and analytical policy paper entitled “The Houthis and the Power of Starvation: The Political Economy of Impoverishment and the Dismantling of Social Safety Nets in Yemen,” coinciding with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October. Drawing on documentary analysis, financial tracing, and cross-referencing of administrative decisions and legislation issued by the Houthi militia, the study reveals that the spread of poverty and famine in areas under its control results from a systematic process designed to deprive society of its financial independence and redirect its resources towards the war effort and security enforcement apparatus.

    The study examines three main pillars through which the Houthi militia has sought to subjugate the civilian population. The first pillar concerns the confiscation of public-sector wages and the erosion of financial independence. The study documents the consequences of the deliberate suspension of salary payments to more than 1.2 million government employees since the final quarter of 2016, the plundering of cash reserves and investment assets held by pension and social insurance funds, and the circumvention of UN-backed mechanisms for salary payments, including the Stockholm Agreement and the withdrawal of revenues from the ports of Hudaydah.

    The study explains that this deprivation has coincided with the Houthi militia’s collection of trillions of Yemeni rials annually in tax and customs revenues, as well as revenues from telecommunications and petroleum products. According to the study, these practices aim to dismantle the middle class and exploit economic deprivation as leverage to push young people and children towards combat recruitment camps.

    The second pillar addresses predatory taxation and the militarisation of supply chains. The study documents the establishment of a network of internal land-based customs checkpoints between governorates, through which additional customs duties and taxes ranging from 50% to 100% are imposed on food and medicines. It also documents the imposition of the so-called Khums levy (20%), which is based on lineage-based discrimination.

    In addition, the study examines the monopolisation of petroleum product pricing and the prohibition on the circulation of Yemen’s official national currency, which has resulted in the loss of nearly half the value of domestic money transfers. The study explains how bread and medicine have effectively become subject to indirect taxation that finances the Houthi militia’s military apparatus.

    ACJ_Starvation_English_Reviewتنزيل

    The third pillar examines policies aimed at dismantling social safety nets and politicising humanitarian assistance. The study outlines the mechanisms used by the Houthi militia to deprive the most vulnerable groups of protection, beginning with the seizure of funds held by the Social Welfare Fund and the removal of 1.5 million beneficiary cases from its assistance programmes, followed by the criminalisation of independent charitable activities and the centralisation of zakat revenues through the General Authority for Zakat.

    The study further documents the subjection of humanitarian operations to the oversight of the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA), the manipulation of beneficiary lists, the extortion of international agencies, the detention of humanitarian aid convoys, and campaigns of abduction and enforced disappearance targeting staff members of UN agencies and international organisations.

    At the legal level, the study concludes that these interconnected practices fulfil the elements of the war crime of deliberately using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, and obstructing humanitarian relief supplies, pursuant to Article 14 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, Rule 53 of customary international humanitarian law, Article 8(2)(e)(xix) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and UN Security Council Resolution 2417. The study further states that these practices fall within the scope of organised pillage and crimes against humanity, including persecution and collective punishment, in addition to constituting serious violations of the Yemeni people’s economic, social and cultural rights.

    ACJ has attached a documentary annex to the study containing an analytical record of decisions, regulations and decrees issued by the Houthi militia between 2015 and 2026 to legitimise levies and facilitate the confiscation of property.

    الحوثيـــــون وسلطة التجويعتنزيل

    The Centre has also attached a formal legal briefing memorandum addressed to the UN Security Council Committee established pursuant to Resolution 2140 and the Panel of Experts on Yemen. The memorandum calls for eight senior Houthi figures responsible for financial, judicial and administrative affairs to be added to the international sanctions list, and for sectoral sanctions to be imposed on four monopoly entities affiliated with the militia.

    The memorandum further calls for an international criminal and financial investigation, the removal of humanitarian operations from the Houthi militia’s control, and the establishment of a binding UN and international oversight mechanism to ensure that revenues from ports and telecommunications are channelled towards the payment of public-sector salaries. It also calls for the abolition of internal land-based customs checkpoints.

  • Houthi Militias Blackmail Families and Exploit Education as a Trap for Child Recruitment

    Houthi Militias Blackmail Families and Exploit Education as a Trap for Child Recruitment

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) condemns the escalating campaigns of forced recruitment carried out by the Houthi militia against children in Sana’a, Damt, and other areas. Based on field testimonies, the Center has documented that the militia systematically pressures families and blackmails parents by threatening that their children will fail in school, in an effort to force them to send their children to indoctrination and recruitment environments.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) notes that these violations go beyond conventional recruitment efforts and extend to abducting children from the streets without their families’ knowledge, as well as exploiting families facing severe health and economic hardship in order to force them to give up their children and send them to the front lines, particularly the Taiz front.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) has documented field testimonies confirming these violations. In one case, the Center recorded the testimony of a mother in Sana’a who lives in a state of fear after militia members threatened that her son would fail in school in order to force her to send him to indoctrination camps.

    In another case, the militia exploited the circumstances of a government employee who had become incapacitated by an illness that had left him unable to work. After his government salary had been cut off for ten years, Houthi operatives came to him and told him that his illness exempted him from fighting. They then compelled him, through intimidation, to send his young son to the Taiz front.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) has uncovered further dimensions of these violations, including falsifying the fate of recruited children and exploiting the suffering of their families. The Center investigated the case of a 13-year-old child who was captured on the Mokha front. After contact with him was lost, the Houthi militia printed and circulated his photograph as that of a person killed in action and informed his family that he had been killed in the fighting. The child later appeared to be alive and was receiving medical treatment at a military field hospital.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) emphasizes that the Houthi militia is fundamentally a rebel entity and that all of its actions and conduct on the ground, including recruitment and mobilization involving both adults and children, constitute unlawful practices. The Center stresses that the militia deprives children of their right to education and a normal life and usurps families’ ability to make decisions concerning the protection of their members.

    The recruitment of children under the age of 18 constitutes a clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The recruitment of children under the age of 15 and their deployment in hostilities rises to the level of war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls on the human rights community and United Nations organizations to intervene immediately to halt these recruitment operations, activate accountability mechanisms against Houthi militia leaders responsible for these practices, and ensure that educational institutions are kept separate from military exploitation.

    Issued by:
    American Center for Justice (ACJ)
    7 October 2026

  • “Mines… Blind Killer”: ACJ Documents Over 5,800 Civilian Casualties and Widespread Property Devastation Across 17 Yemeni Governorates

    “Mines… Blind Killer”: ACJ Documents Over 5,800 Civilian Casualties and Widespread Property Devastation Across 17 Yemeni Governorates

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) released an extensive field and legal report titled “Mines… Blind Killer,” documenting the catastrophic civilian casualties and property destruction resulting from landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted across 17 Yemeni governorates between June 2014 and February 2022. Based on a comprehensive year-long field investigation involving site inspections, verified medical and forensic records, and interviews with victims, eyewitnesses, healthcare officials, and demining experts from Project Masam, the report provides documented evidence of systematic violations committed exclusively by the Houthi group.

    20224_BLIND-KILLER (3)تنزيل

    The report verifies the killing of 2,526 civilians (including 429 children and 217 women) and the injury of 3,286 others (including 723 children and 220 women). Approximately 75% of the wounded suffered permanent disabilities or limb amputations due to anti-personnel mines, anti-vehicle mines, naval mines, and disguised IEDs. Taiz Governorate sustained the highest casualty rate at 22%—predominantly across its western coastal districts—followed by Al-Hodeidah at 13%, Marib at 8.51%, and Al-Jawf at 8.39%, with the remainder distributed across Aden, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhalea, Lahj, Shabwa, Hajjah, Sana’a, Abyan, and Saada. Furthermore, demining operations faced severe hazards, resulting in the deaths of 33 Project Masam personnel (including five international experts) and injuries to 40 others.

    The investigation substantiates the destruction of civilian transportation and rural livelihoods. Anti-vehicle mines completely destroyed 425 vehicles and partially damaged 163 others, while 334 agricultural farms were rendered unusable and 2,185 head of livestock were killed. The report documents advanced camouflage techniques used by Houthi forces, including encasing explosives in resin matching local rocks and soil, disguising devices as toys or household containers, integrating sensitive magnetic sensors, and deploying naval mines along Red Sea transit routes and fishing grounds off Midi and Al-Hodeidah. Compound violations include the forced displacement of rural communities, denial of safe return to liberated areas, contamination of water sources and grazing paths, denial of humanitarian access, and obstruction of students’ access to schooling.

    ACJ classifies these acts as grave breaches of the 1997 Ottawa Convention (ratified by Yemen in 1998), Protocol II of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, and Customary International Humanitarian Law prohibiting indiscriminate warfare, constituting war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Center calls on the Houthi group to immediately cease the manufacture and planting of landmines, surrender comprehensive minefield maps, and destroy its stockpiles. ACJ further urges the international community to sanction responsible military commanders and expand technical and medical assistance for mine clearance and survivor rehabilitation.

  • “Manufacturing Violence and Hatred”: ACJ Documents Houthi Indoctrination and Child Recruitment in Summer Camps Across Controlled Governorates

    “Manufacturing Violence and Hatred”: ACJ Documents Houthi Indoctrination and Child Recruitment in Summer Camps Across Controlled Governorates

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) released a specialized qualitative report titled “Manufacturing Violence and Hatred,” documenting the objectives, curricula, and systematic human rights violations associated with the summer centers operated by the Houthi movement for school-age children and youth between 2017 and 2022 under the banner of “Education and Jihad”. Based on field investigations, on-site inspections, interviews with educators, academics, parents, and merchants across Sana’a, Dhamar, Al-Mahwit, Al-Hodeidah, Ibb, Saada, and Al-Jawf, and a rigorous forensic review of seven core instructional textbooks, the report exposes the operational mechanisms behind these camps.

    Manufacturing Violence and Hatred (3)تنزيل

    The findings demonstrate that the Houthi group utilizes summer courses as a systematic conduit for military mobilization to replenish depleted combat ranks. In 2022 alone, the ACJ documented the recruitment of 701 children from summer centers into combat formations: 189 in Saada, 186 in Dhamar (with 85% under the age of 15), 119 in Sana’a, 111 in Amran, 42 in Al-Hodeidah, 35 in Al-Mahwit, and 19 in Ibb. The report records grave humanitarian consequences stemming from this indoctrination, detailing confirmed instances where children returned from camps exhibiting acute behavioral hostility, including parricide and physical violence against immediate family members who questioned loyalty to the group’s leadership. In multiple verified cases, recruited minors were deployed directly to active frontlines in Marib and Al-Jawf, where they were killed in combat or sustained catastrophic injuries resulting in permanent limb amputations, often without the prior knowledge or consent of their families.

    صناعة العنف والكراهية_compressed-1 (1)تنزيل

    Beyond child soldiering, the report details compound violations against educational institutions and the right to education. The Houthi authorities closed 118 established summer educational centers in Sana’a, raided and looted 89 others, and revoked licenses for teaching the Holy Quran in independent institutions and mosques. The group weaponized educational access by providing free curricula and tuition waivers exclusively to children attending sectarian summer camps, while imposing mandatory fees on the general public school population. Furthermore, the group deployed coercion to enforce ideological conformity in traditionally Shafi’i communities across Ibb and Al-Hodeidah, while subjecting commercial merchants in Sana’a, Dhamar, and Ibb to systematic financial extortion to fund the multibillion-rial expenses of running hundreds of open and closed military-style encampments.

    Textual analysis of the 278 pages across seven instructional booklets confirms the systematic presence of content that glorifies death, sanctions sectarian violence, and incites hatred. Curricula for primary-level children incorporate phrases such as “I will slaughter you,” mandate the chanting of the group’s sectarian slogan, and frame non-adherents as hypocrites and enemies of faith, entirely omitting foundational concepts of civic coexistence, peace, and national identity.

    Under international law, the compulsory conscription and recruitment of children under the age of 15 into armed forces or their use in hostilities constitute war crimes under Article 8(2)(e)(vii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These acts also stand in direct violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. The ACJ recommends that the Houthi group immediately shutter all closed and open summer camps, abolish curricula that promote hatred and militancy, adhere to its signed UN Action Plan on child recruitment, and redirect operational funds toward public school teacher salaries. The Center also urges the international community and the United Nations to exert decisive pressure to halt child mobilization and hold commanders implicated in the unlawful recruitment of children legally accountable.

  • Siege of Taiz: A Humanitarian Crisis”: ACJ Documents Nine Years of Blockade, Collective Punishment, and Over 9,300 Civilian Casualties

    Siege of Taiz: A Humanitarian Crisis”: ACJ Documents Nine Years of Blockade, Collective Punishment, and Over 9,300 Civilian Casualties

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) issued a comprehensive investigative report titled “Siege of Taiz: A Humanitarian Crisis,” examining the devastating humanitarian, social, and economic consequences of the nine-year siege imposed on Taiz Governorate by the Houthi group from March 2015 through 2024. Utilizing rigorous field monitoring methodologies, photographic evidence, and verified testimonies from victims, healthcare workers, and eyewitnesses, the report substantiates the severe collective punishment inflicted on the governorate’s civilian population.

    The report documents 3,021 civilian deaths and 6,361 injuries resulting from Houthi sniper fire, direct artillery shelling, and indiscriminate landmines. This includes 1,778 civilians killed (529 children, 228 women) and 4,427 injured by shelling; 824 civilians killed (166 children, 87 women) and 1,155 wounded by snipers; and 419 killed alongside 779 injured by landmines and improvised explosive devices. In parallel, 477 individuals were arbitrarily arrested, 79 subjected to enforced disappearance, and 59 tortured, predominantly at checkpoints situated along precarious alternative transit corridors.

    Siege of Taiz A Humanitarian Crisis (1)تنزيل

    The blockade closed the city’s primary eastern, western, and northern arterial routes, forcing more than 1.5 million urban residents onto steep, unpaved mountain bypasses such as Heijat Al-Abd and Al-Aqroudh. These hazardous pathways witnessed 561 vehicular accidents, causing 434 fatalities, 807 injuries, and material losses exceeding two million dollars. The group obstructed 31 humanitarian relief operations and confiscated 22 truckloads of essential food and medical aid for military use. Healthcare services collapsed as hospitals were deprived of medical supplies and fuel; in the first year alone, 26 civilians, including nine newborns, died due to oxygen deprivation. Furthermore, the siege displaced 44,749 families across 17 districts, emptied 22 villages entirely, severed 75% of the municipal water supply, obstructed sanitation operations leading to epidemic outbreaks, and caused essential commodity prices to surge by 500% alongside a 1,000% escalation in transportation costs.

    حصار تعز.. مأساة إنسانيةتنزيل

    ACJ defines the ongoing siege as a war crime under the amended Rome Statute and Article 14 of the Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions prohibiting the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, while also amounting to persecution and crimes against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute. The Center urges the international community to treat the siege of Taiz as a non-negotiable humanitarian priority, demanding the unconditional reopening of all main transit corridors, the surrender of minefield maps, and full restoration of municipal water and aid flows.

  • “Tears on Rubble”: ACJ Documents Systematic Detonation of 716 Homes and Mass Displacement in Yemen

    “Tears on Rubble”: ACJ Documents Systematic Detonation of 716 Homes and Mass Displacement in Yemen

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) released an investigative human rights report titled “Tears on Rubble,” documenting the deliberate and widespread bombing of private dwellings across 15 Yemeni governorates from March 2011 to September 2023. Based on a two-year field investigation involving physical site inspections, photographic evidence, and interviews with victims and eyewitnesses, the report substantiates the detonation of 716 homes, framing the practice as a systematic tool of political retribution and terror against civilian dissidents.

    Tears on buildings – en (1)تنزيل

    The findings assign primary legal responsibility to the Houthi movement for 703 detonations (representing 98.18% of all recorded incidents), while attributing the remainder to individual violations committed by the Popular Resistance in Taiz (7 incidents), ISIS in Al-Bayda (5 incidents), and the Shabwani Elite Forces in Shabwa (1 incident). Al-Bayda Governorate suffered the highest concentration of destruction with 118 demolished homes, followed by Taiz (110), Al-Jawf (76), Saada (73), and Sana’a (57). In 71.64% of documented incidents (513 cases), armed units carried out pillaging of movable assets—including personal vehicles, legal title deeds, identity documents, and jewelry—prior to rigging structures with high-grade explosives such as TNT.

    The report underscores grave civilian casualties and compound violations directly tied to these demolitions: 25 individuals—including 11 children and 5 women—were killed under the rubble of their homes, while 24 others sustained critical injuries, all under Houthi operations. The blasts and invasive night raids induced acute trauma across affected communities, causing 27 documented miscarriages among pregnant women and widespread psychological disorders among children. The destruction resulted in the arbitrary displacement of 1,123 families; 89% fled to alternative governorates, with roughly 65% left destitute in makeshift displacement camps across Marib, Taiz, and Al-Dhalea. Furthermore, the loss of civil records buried under rubble deprived at least 239 children of basic schooling.

    Under international humanitarian law, particularly the rules governing non-international armed conflicts and the Geneva Conventions’ Additional Protocol II, the arbitrary destruction of civilian objects without imperative military necessity constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Under Yemeni domestic legislation, including Articles 137 and 306 of Penal Law No. 12 of 1994, these acts constitute banditry (Hirabah) and aggravated property sabotage punishable by death. ACJ demands that the Houthi group completely dismantle its practice of residential demolitions and compensate victims, calls on the internationally recognized government to initiate national criminal proceedings against perpetrators, and urges the international community and the UN Security Council to hold violators individually accountable without impunity.

  • American Center for Justice: Denial of Vaccines in Yemen Endangers 600,000 Children and May Constitute a War Crime

    American Center for Justice: Denial of Vaccines in Yemen Endangers 600,000 Children and May Constitute a War Crime

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) condemned policies that deprive hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen of healthcare and immunization, rejecting the use of vaccines and medical supplies as instruments of political pressure or collective punishment in the context of the armed conflict.

    The Center stated that Yemen’s health crisis is worsening as a result of decisions that prevent comprehensive door-to-door vaccination campaigns, particularly in densely populated governorates under the control of the Houthi group. According to the Center, these policies, together with disinformation campaigns targeting vaccines, have left approximately 600,000 children without immunization. This figure represents 35 percent of all children who have not received vaccinations across the Middle East and North Africa region, while vaccination coverage for polio, measles, and diphtheria has fallen below 50 percent.

    The statement noted that more than 80 percent of children infected with measles had not received a single vaccine dose, while Yemen reportedly loses more than 100 children every day to preventable diseases. The Center warned that the situation could amount to a long-term process of destruction.

    The Center stated that this deprivation is incompatible with international humanitarian law and international criminal law. It cited Article 54 of Additional Protocol I and Article 14 of Additional Protocol II, which prohibit the starvation of civilians and the deprivation of objects indispensable to their survival. The Center also referred to the obligations set out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    The Center stressed that the deliberate obstruction of access to medical supplies may constitute a war crime and may give rise to individual criminal responsibility under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It further stated that such conduct may amount to crimes against humanity where it is intended to subject populations to living conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population.

    The statement also highlighted the economic and demographic consequences of the crisis. The resurgence of epidemics such as polio may result in permanent disabilities that exclude thousands of people from the future workforce, push families into poverty, and force them to liquidate productive assets to meet emergency medical costs. According to the Center, these consequences erode human capital and divert limited resources toward emergency responses to human-made crises.

    The American Center for Justice called on the international community and United Nations agencies to intervene urgently to end the medical blockade, insulate the health sector from political and military considerations, and ensure that vaccination teams can operate without restrictions. The Center also called on international commissions of inquiry and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to document these alleged violations and develop legal case files identifying the potential individual criminal responsibility of leaders implicated in restricting vaccination efforts. It further urged states exercising universal jurisdiction to initiate legal proceedings against those responsible for depriving civilians of healthcare and to ensure that they do not evade accountability.

    Statement on the Deprivation of Children of Vaccines and the Spread of Epidemics in Yemen

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) unequivocally condemns the systematic policies that deprive hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen of their fundamental right to healthcare and immunization. The Center also rejects the use of vaccines and health supplies as instruments of political pressure or collective punishment in the context of the armed conflict.

    Yemen’s health crisis is worsening as a result of deliberate decisions that prevent comprehensive door-to-door vaccination campaigns, particularly in densely populated governorates under the control of the Houthi group.

    The number of children deprived of immunization is approaching 600,000, equivalent to 35 percent of all children who have not received vaccines across the Middle East and North Africa region. These restrictive policies are accompanied by organized disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining confidence in vaccines and have contributed to vaccination coverage for polio, measles, and diphtheria falling below 50 percent.

    Available statistics indicate that more than 80 percent of children infected with measles had not received a single vaccine dose. Yemen reportedly loses more than 100 children every day to preventable diseases, making the situation akin to a long-term process of destruction.

    The Center maintains that this deliberate deprivation constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Article 54 of Additional Protocol I and Article 14 of Additional Protocol II prohibit the starvation of civilians and the deprivation of objects indispensable to their survival.

    The Center further maintains that the deliberate obstruction of medical supplies from reaching civilians constitutes a war crime giving rise to individual criminal responsibility under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It adds that such conduct may amount to crimes against humanity where populations are subjected to harsh living conditions intended to bring about the destruction of part of the population.

    This denial violates the core obligations set out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which require all parties to protect children from disease and provide comprehensive immunization programmes.

    The impact of these policies extends beyond a public health setback. It undermines the foundations of the local economy and affects the demographic structure of Yemeni society, both now and in the future. The resurgence of deadly epidemics such as polio may result in permanent disabilities that exclude thousands of people from future economic participation, increase poverty and dependency, and force families to liquidate productive assets to meet emergency medical costs.

    These pressures deepen poverty, divert resources away from development projects and the improvement of essential services, erode human capital, which is the principal driver of societal recovery, and trap scarce financial resources in emergency responses to human-made crises.

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) calls on the international community and United Nations agencies to intervene immediately to end the medical blockade imposed on children in Yemen. The Center emphasizes the need to insulate health-related issues from political and military considerations and to guarantee unhindered access for vaccination teams to reach all households without restriction.

    The Center calls on international commissions of inquiry and independent United Nations mechanisms to document these alleged violations and develop comprehensive legal case files identifying the potential individual criminal responsibility of leaders who issue decisions restricting vaccination campaigns or incite opposition to vaccines. The Center also urges the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to receive communications concerning these alleged crimes.

    The Center appeals to states that apply the principle of universal jurisdiction to initiate legal proceedings and pursue those implicated in depriving Yemeni civilians of essential healthcare. It calls for measures to ensure that those responsible do not evade accountability and to protect future generations from gradual destruction.

    Issued by the American Center for Justice (ACJ)
    July 30, 2026

  • Press Release: Sniping of Children in Taiz .. Systematic Houthi Exploitation of Civilian Vulnerability

    Press Release: Sniping of Children in Taiz .. Systematic Houthi Exploitation of Civilian Vulnerability

    The American Center for Justice (ACJ) unequivocally condemns the ongoing sniper attacks targeting civilians in the city of Taiz. The latest victim, 14-year-old Ibrahim Jalal Amin, was fatally shot by a Houthi-affiliated sniper positioned in the Al-Mawshaki area while returning home from school on April 5. This incident reflects a recurring pattern of conduct that deliberately targets individuals least able to protect themselves or respond to hostile fire.

    The deployment of precision sniper weapons equipped with advanced optics provides the perpetrator with clear visual identification of the victim, thereby eliminating any plausible claim of accidental or indiscriminate harm. The targeting of children and women in densely populated civilian areas constitutes a deliberate and calculated military practice aimed at crippling community life and engineering demographic displacement. By turning school routes and water collection points into zones of lethal risk, these actions impose gradual forced displacement, effectively transforming residential neighborhoods into depopulated buffer zones that facilitate military domination.

    Within this framework, the systematic targeting of economically and socially vulnerable populations represents a deliberate strategy to consolidate front lines at minimal operational cost. By focusing on families compelled by necessity to remain in high-risk areas and unable to afford displacement, perpetrators achieve localized deterrence while avoiding retaliatory dynamics that might arise from targeting members of armed groups or influential tribal networks. Consequently, these vulnerable populations are left exposed to sustained sniper threats, their daily existence reduced to a continuous mechanism of coercion, and their communities transformed into environments governed by entrenched fear.

    These field-based violations are compounded by a media discourse that deliberately obscures accountability by promoting misleading narratives about the political beneficiaries of condemning such crimes. This tactic seeks to detach the criminal act from its material reality, disregarding the fact that the gunfire originates from positions under the group’s control following deliberate identification of the victim. By shifting the discourse from the physical crime scene to speculative political interpretation, this narrative performs a dual function: concealing the direct perpetrator and fostering a climate of legal paralysis that enables ongoing violations and facilitates impunity.

    In light of these grave and ongoing abuses, the American Center for Justice stresses that routine international condemnations have failed to deter this pattern of violence and have contributed to the instrumentalization of vulnerable civilians as bargaining tools. ACJ therefore calls on the international community and the UN Special Envoy to adopt concrete and enforceable measures to halt this human attrition. These include lifting the siege on Taiz, ensuring the withdrawal of military positions overlooking civilian neighborhoods, and activating international accountability mechanisms through rigorous criminal documentation that links each violation to its direct perpetrator as well as the chain of command responsible for authorizing and sustaining such acts. These steps are essential to breaking the cycle of impunity and ensuring effective protection for civilian lives.