A group of international and local human rights organizations have called on Yemen’s warring parties to reveal the whereabouts of scores of civilians forcibly disappeared, as well as to immediately release all who are arbitrarily detained in official and unofficial prisons. 

Wrongfully held detainees are “an important issue that touches the lives of thousands of Yemeni families who are left to their own devices in fighting for truth and justice for their loved ones,” organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Yemen-based Mothers of Abductees Association and the independent Yemeni group Mwatana for Human Rights wrote in an open letter published today. 

The eight organizations urged parties to the conflict to create prison registries, allow independent monitors to visit the detention centers and give prisoners access to their families and lawyers. 

The war between the Houthi rebels, who overran the capital in 2014, and the Saudi and Emirati-led military coalition, which intervened the following year to restore the internationally recognized government, has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The protracted conflict has killed tens of thousands and left roughly 80% of the country reliant on humanitarian aid.