JEDDAH: The life of Yemeni women is exceedingly difficult because of the mounting violations and atrocities committed by the Houthi militias against them in the provinces controlled by the putschists, according to Human Rights reports. 

Violations against women take the shape of verbal and sexual harassment, physical abuses, including rape and murder, as well as preventing them from working.

Riyad Al-Kaabari, Yemen’s representative to the Arab League in Cairo, said that human rights activists’ reports show an increase in the number of cases of violence and intimidation, as well as other human rights violations, including preventing thousands of girls from attending school, and contributing to growing rates of poverty, unemployment and begging.

Media sources quoted Al-Kaabari as saying that since September 2014, women in Yemen have been subjected to verbal and sexual harassment, and the denial of employment. 

“They have suffered the greatest share of abuse and harassment at the hand of militias in cities and areas under their control,” he said.

At the end of last month, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that 10,000 cases of violence against women were reported in Yemen in 2016.

During a seminar titled “The Situation of Women and Children during the Armed Conflict in Yemen,” held on the occasion of the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council, hosted recently by the UN in Geneva, Yemeni women activists highlighted the terrible violations committed by the militias against Yemeni women.

Journalist Bushra Al-Amri said that Yemeni women journalists suffered attacks, especially those who condemned the practices of the coup militia, which undermine rights and freedoms, particularly of journalists.

Wessam Basandouh said that the rights of many women were violated, whether by torture or kidnapping, over and above the tragedy of having to face bombing of their residential areas and assassinations.

The Human Rights Information and Training Center in Yemen said that 459 women were killed and 1,281 were injured between September 2014 and March 30, 2016.

In the same period, 647 children were killed and 1,822 were injured in attacks committed by Houthi and militants loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In its report to the plenary session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the center stressed that women and children have been subjected to serious violations by the Houthi militia and Saleh loyalists.

The center also reported that children form one third of the fighters in Yemen, and that the Houthi and Saleh militias recruited 72 percent of the documented cases of children pushed to fight.