Historical Background on Enforced Disappearances in Yemen

Crimes of enforced disappearance have been committed in Yemen during various historical periods spanning decades of its modern history, during which Yemen has undergone fundamental transformations and changes in its political and power structures, with various parties, authorities, and security and military agencies succeeding one another, alongside the emergence of multiple political and military actors in successive conflict contexts. Therefore, understanding the facts presented in the interactive map of enforced disappearances in Yemen requires interpreting them within their historical and political contexts, including the nature of the authorities in power at the time, the parties involved in the cycles of conflict, and the political and security conditions surrounding each phase.

The presentation of the most significant historical contexts and cycles of political conflict associated with crimes of enforced disappearance in Yemen is not intended to provide a historical account of the events themselves, but rather to help understand the circumstances in which the violations occurred and to identify the entities or parties that exercised effective authority on the ground at the time they took place, Furthermore, referring to these contexts contributes to a more accurate interpretation of the data presented in the map and helps to understand the historical evolution of the crime of enforced disappearance in Yemen, as it is a crime linked to different phases of the country’s conflict cycles, with responsibility for it varying across different historical periods.

The Era of the Imamate and the National Movement Before 1962

The Imamate period in northern Yemen—which spanned from the establishment of the Yemeni Mutawakkilite Kingdom in 1918 until its fall on September 26, 1962—represents the earliest historical roots of enforced disappearance practices in Yemen, even though the concept of enforced disappearance had not yet taken shape in international law or human rights discourse at that time, the nature of the relationship between the authorities and the opposition during that period was characterized by the use of arbitrary detention, isolation from the outside world, and the withholding of information regarding the fate or places of detention of certain political dissidents.

The imamate system, in which power was concentrated in the hands of the imam and his traditional institutions, relied on security and punitive measures to confront its political opponents, particularly advocates of constitutional reform and members of the Yemeni National Movement. The repression reached its peak following the failure of the Constitutional Revolution in 1948 and the ensuing campaigns of arrests, executions, and widespread persecution targeting the revolution’s leaders and supporters; these practices were then renewed after the 1955 movement and other attempts to oppose the Imamate. Given the limited documentation and the absence of accountability mechanisms, the fate of a number of detainees and those targeted by persecution remained unknown, while political prisons produced an early legacy of violations linked to the denial of the truth to victims and their families.

Although it is difficult to characterize many of these incidents as cases of enforced disappearance according to contemporary legal definitions, they reveal the existence of early patterns of enforced disappearance and systematic repression that later contributed to the entrenchment of enforced disappearance violations during subsequent phases of Yemen’s history.

The September 26 Revolution and the Republican–Monarchist War (1962–1970)

The revolution of September 26, 1962, marked a pivotal turning point in modern Yemeni history, as it brought an end to the rule of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen in the north of the country and proclaimed the establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic. However, the revolution did not lead to a peaceful transfer of power; rather, it sparked a civil war that lasted until 1970 between republican and royalist forces, amid extensive regional and international interventions that turned Yemen into one of the battlegrounds of the Cold War. The United Arab Republic’s forces (Egyptian forces) participated directly alongside the republican forces, while the royalist forces received political and military support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab states, as well as from Israel and some Western countries that supported it. This external intervention contributed to prolonging the war, complicating the military and political landscape, and transforming Yemen into a theater of conflict whose dimensions extended beyond the domestic sphere.

At the same time, southern Yemen remained under British colonial rule, which had established control over the city of Aden in 1839 and subsequently expanded its influence to include neighboring sultanates and emirates in what became known as the “Aden Protectorate,” a situation that persisted until independence on November 30, 1967. The situation in the south was not limited to the confrontation between the British colonial authorities and the national liberation movements; it also witnessed rivalry and conflict between the two leading factions of the national movement—the National Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen—which differed in their political orientations and regional alliances. This rivalry escalated during the final years of British presence and, in a number of regions, escalated into armed clashes, assassinations, arrests, and mutual targeting, in addition to clashes with British forces, before the National Front assumed sole power following independence, which was followed by the targeting and ousting of a number of leaders and members of the Liberation Front.

During this period, in both northern and southern Yemen, legal safeguards were significantly eroded, and military and security considerations took precedence over the institutions of justice and the rule of law. In the north, civilians, military personnel, and social and tribal figures were detained on suspicion of loyalty to the Republicans or the Royalists, while others went missing during military operations or following their detention. In the south, the period of the struggle against British colonialism, followed by the conflict between nationalist factions, witnessed cases of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and killings targeting individuals based on their affiliations or political stances.

The conflicts of that period were marked by grave human rights violations committed by various parties to the conflict, including Republican forces, Royalist forces, United Arab Republic forces (Egyptian forces), and British forces, as well as some armed factions in southern Yemen. These violations included arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances, as well as abuses against civilians in the context of military operations. Although many of these incidents were not systematically documented or subject to independent investigations, available testimonies suggest that hundreds of people who went missing during that period were subjected to enforced disappearance or killed after their detention, without their fate or burial sites being disclosed, leaving dozens of families in a state of uncertainty that lasted for decades.

This period is considered one of the earliest in which patterns of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance linked to the armed conflicts in Yemen emerged. The early years of war and political conflict established practices based on extrajudicial detention, the concealment of detainees’ fates, and the absence of investigations and accountability—patterns that persisted in varying forms throughout subsequent phases of Yemen’s history. Furthermore, the lack of accountability and the withholding of the truth from victims and their families have contributed to the entrenchment of a culture of impunity, which has become a recurring feature in the various cycles of conflict the country has experienced over the following decades.

The Post-Republican–Monarchist Reconciliation Period (1970–1977)

The civil war in northern Yemen effectively ended in 1970 with Saudi Arabia’s recognition of the Yemen Arab Republic, which helped consolidate the republican system and bring an end to the period of open military conflict between the Republicans and the Royalists. Meanwhile, South Yemen had gained independence from Britain on November 30, 1967, under the name of the People’s Republic of South Yemen, before the state was reorganized in 1970 as the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, which adopted a Marxist-socialist approach, and established close ties with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries.

This reality led to Yemen’s division into two states pursuing divergent political and ideological agendas. Relations between them have been marked by constant tension, punctuated by border clashes, mutual media campaigns, and repeated accusations that each side supports the other’s opponents, in addition to harboring opposition figures and political organizations. This division has had a direct impact on the security, political, and human rights situations in both parts of the country, as the authorities have moved to expand the influence of security and intelligence agencies and prioritize security considerations at the expense of constitutional and legal safeguards.

In the Yemen Arab Republic (the North), the authorities strengthened the role of security agencies in monitoring political and labor union forces, particularly leftist, nationalist, and Nasserist movements, some of which were viewed as an extension of political influence coming from the South. Amid weak judicial oversight and the expansion of the security agencies’ powers, this period saw cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance targeting political and military opponents, as well as those suspected of belonging to groups opposed to or supportive of the South, as well as cases of enforced disappearance affecting individuals during the political conflicts, coups, and attempts to change the government that the North experienced during the 1970s.

As for the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (the South), the building of the new state was linked to the restructuring of military, security, and party institutions. This was accompanied by measures targeting political opponents and rival factions, particularly after the ousting of the Liberation Front, then during successive internal conflicts within the National Front, and later within the Yemeni Socialist Party. These conflicts contributed to arbitrary detentions and cases of enforced disappearance affecting a number of dissidents or members of rival factions, amid one-party dominance and the absence of independent accountability mechanisms.

This period also saw continued military tension between the two halves, which culminated in clashes in 1972 and 1979, accompanied by internal security campaigns targeting individuals accused of espionage, collaboration with the other side, or membership in opposition political organizations, which led to a rise in arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances of detainees in both parts of the country.

The Assassination of al-Hamdi and Political Shifts (1977–1978)

The assassination of President Ibrahim Muhammad al-Hamdi on October 11, 1977, marked one of the most significant political turning points in the history of the Yemen Arab Republic, as it occurred at a time when al-Hamdi was leading an effort to rebuild state institutions, strengthen central authority, and curbing the influence of tribal and military power centers, in addition to adopting policies aimed at consolidating civilian governance and institutional development. The circumstances of his assassination and those responsible for it remain a subject of historical debate, in the absence of an independent official investigation to uncover the truth of what happened and determine who was responsible.

Following Al-Hamdi’s assassination, President Ahmed Hussein Al-Ghashmi assumed power; however, his reign lasted less than a year, as he was assassinated on June 24, 1978, in a bombing attributed to an envoy from the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, which led to escalating tensions between the two parts of Yemen and a heightened focus on security in the Yemen Arab Republic. The repercussions of President al-Ghashmi’s assassination extended to Aden amid an escalating factional power struggle that culminated in the overthrow of President Salim Rabi’ Ali (Salmin) on June 26, 1978, followed by his execution along with dozens of his comrades. On July 17, 1978, Ali Abdullah Saleh assumed the presidency of the Yemen Arab Republic, ushering in a political era that lasted for more than three decades.

In parallel with these shifts, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen was witnessing the increasing consolidation of the socialist system under the leadership of the Yemeni Socialist Party, as well as its continued support for a number of leftist and nationalist opposition movements and organizations in the north, while the southern authorities accused the Sana’a government of supporting their opponents and interfering in their internal affairs. This political and ideological polarization contributed to deepening the hostility between the two states and made security considerations a priority in the management of their respective internal affairs.

In northern Yemen, the authorities moved to expand the powers of security and military agencies and to tighten control over political activity, particularly targeting leftist, nationalist, and Nasserist movements, as well as individuals suspected of having ties to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen or opposition groups. This period also saw an increase in cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, amid limited judicial oversight and weak accountability mechanisms.

The October 15, 1978 Nasserist Movement

The October 15, 1978, uprising, led by the Nasserist Organization, represented the first major political and military challenge faced by President Ali Abdullah Saleh after he assumed the presidency of the Yemen Arab Republic in July of that same year. The uprising occurred amid political instability following the assassinations of Presidents Ibrahim al-Hamdi and Ahmed Hussein al-Ghashmi, against a backdrop of fierce competition for power among political and military factions, as well as escalating tensions between the two parts of Yemen and ongoing mutual accusations of supporting opposition movements.

Although the attempt lasted only a few hours and ended with government forces regaining control, the authorities considered it a direct threat to national security and launched a widespread security campaign targeting the leaders and members of the Nasserist organization, as well as officers in the armed forces, civilians, and individuals suspected of having ties to or supporting the movement. The campaign included mass arrests, extraordinary measures, and expedited military trials, some of which resulted in the issuance and execution of death sentences against a number of civilian and military leaders involved, with their bodies concealed from their families to this day.

During this period, a number of detainees were held in security and military facilities in isolation from the outside world; their places of detention and fates remained undisclosed for varying periods of time, while others disappeared following their arrest, with their families receiving no official information regarding their whereabouts or whether they had been executed or had died in custody. The fate of some of these individuals remains unknown to this day, in the absence of independent and comprehensive investigations and the failure to take official measures to uncover the truth or determine who was responsible.

The Central Region Wars (1978–1982)

By the late 1970s, Yemen remained divided into two independent states: the conservative-leaning Yemen Arab Republic in the north, supported by Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab and Western countries, and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in the south, which adopted a Marxist-socialist approach and forged close alliances with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries. Amid this division, which directly reflected the regional and international polarizations associated with the Cold War, leftist and nationalist political and military opposition movements emerged in northern Yemen, most notably the National Democratic Front, which received political, military, and logistical support from the Yemeni Socialist Party in the south. As its influence expanded in the governorates of Ibb, Dhamar, Taiz, and Al-Bayda, these areas became the scene of a protracted armed conflict known as the Central Region Wars or the War between the National Front and the Islamic Front.

This war took place against the backdrop of escalating tensions between the two halves of Yemen, particularly following the border clashes of 1979, which culminated in the signing of the 1979 Kuwait Agreement between President Ali Abdullah Saleh and President Abd al-Fattah Ismail—though this did not put an end to mutual support for armed groups or ease the intensity of internal confrontations. The government in Sana’a continued to accuse the South of providing direct support to the National Front, while the South accused the northern authorities of persecuting their political opponents under the pretext of fighting the rebellion and supporting the Islamic Front.

These developments reinforced President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime’s tendency to adopt a broad security and military approach to counter the armed insurgency. Consequently, the regime increased the deployment of the armed forces and security agencies and enlisted the help of popular committees and pro-government tribal groups in a number of conflict zones. The security agencies—led by the National Security Agency, established in 1975—were also granted broad powers to pursue those suspected of having ties to or sympathizing with the National Front. In response, the National Front continued to carry out military operations targeting government and military sites and temporarily seized control of some areas, leading to an escalation and expansion of the conflict.

Amid these clashes, legal safeguards were significantly eroded, and security and military considerations became the governing framework for dealing with the local population. The authorities carried out widespread arrest campaigns targeting members of the National Front, its supporters, and those suspected of providing any form of support to it, The arrests also included community and tribal leaders, as well as civilians whose involvement in any armed activity had not been proven; rather, they were targeted because of their political affiliations or their family or tribal ties to wanted individuals. These arrests were often carried out without judicial warrants, and detainees were held in military facilities or undisclosed detention centers, while their families were denied information about their whereabouts or the reasons for their detention.

This period also saw an increase in conflict-related enforced disappearances, as hundreds of detainees disappeared after being taken into custody by security agencies, military forces, or armed groups, and their families received no information about their fate or whereabouts. Conversely, the National Democratic Front was also linked to incidents involving the detention of individuals accused of collaborating with the government, the armed forces, or the Popular Committees. Additionally, a number of people went missing during military operations or after falling into the hands of armed groups, and their fate remains unknown.

The effects of the conflict were not limited to arrests and enforced disappearances; they extended to the targeting of villages and rural areas where clashes took place. There, civilians were subjected to forced displacement, property was damaged, and severe restrictions on movement were imposed—all in the absence of any effective mechanisms to protect civilians or hold those responsible for violations accountable. Furthermore, the clandestine nature of the conflict, the multiplicity of armed groups, and the lack of official documentation have led to the disappearance of a number of people under circumstances that remain unclear to this day.

Although the intensity of the clashes subsided in the early 1980s, their humanitarian consequences persisted for decades afterward. The fate of an unknown number of detainees and victims of enforced disappearance remained unknown, and for decades their families continued to seek the truth without receiving any official response, in the absence of any independent investigations or institutional efforts to uncover their fate.

The wars in the central regions represent one of the most significant turning points that saw the entrenchment of extrajudicial detention and enforced disappearance as tools for managing political conflict, and they contributed to the establishment of a culture of impunity that would recur in later stages of Yemen’s history.

Internal Conflicts in the South and the Events of January 13, 1986

Since its founding, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen has witnessed a series of political and organizational conflicts within the Yemeni Socialist Party, which monopolized power and tightened its grip on state institutions and the security and military apparatuses. Despite apparent political and institutional stability during certain periods, disputes over state administration, the distribution of influence within the party, and political orientations gradually intensified, given the absence of political pluralism and the reliance of state institutions and security and military agencies on party loyalties. This led to escalating internal divisions, which paved the way for one of the bloodiest chapters in Yemen’s modern history.

On January 13, 1986, internal armed clashes broke out in the capital, Aden, between the two factions of the Yemeni Socialist Party—one led by President Ali Nasser Muhammad and the other by Abd al-Fattah Ismail and a number of party and military leaders—in a conflict that escalated from political disagreements into a full-scale military confrontation within the state institutions themselves. The clashes quickly spread to other southern governorates, continued for days, and resulted in the deaths of thousands of people—including political and military leaders as well as civilians—as well as the displacement of tens of thousands outside the country, particularly to the Yemen Arab Republic and other nations, in one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of South Yemen.

During those events and in their aftermath, grave human rights violations were committed by the warring parties, including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and the enforced disappearance of a number of individuals. A number of political and military leaders, members of the armed forces, and civilians disappeared during the clashes or after their arrest, without their fate or place of detention being disclosed, while others were executed without due process, and their bodies were neither returned to their families nor their burial sites disclosed.

To this day, large numbers of families remain unaware of the fate of their relatives who went missing during those events—whether they disappeared after being detained or were killed and their burial sites remain unknown. Testimonies from survivors and relatives of victims, along with a number of historical studies, point to the existence of burial sites that have not been officially disclosed, raising the possibility of mass graves dating back to that period. To date, however, no independent and comprehensive investigations have been conducted to verify these allegations, uncover the burial sites of the victims, identify their remains, or return them to their families.

With the achievement of Yemeni unity in 1990, repeated calls emerged from the families of victims, survivors, and civil society organizations to reopen the case of the January 1986 events, reveal the fate of the missing and those subjected to enforced disappearance, identify the burial sites of the victims, and hold those responsible for the violations accountable. However, these demands did not receive an effective official response; efforts remained limited, and no independent national mechanism was established to conduct a fact-finding mission or investigate the violations that accompanied those events.

As such, the events of January 13, 1986, represent one of the most significant episodes involving enforced disappearances and the unknown fate of victims in Yemen’s contemporary history, They also reflect the far-reaching consequences of the absence of truth, accountability, and justice, as well as the ongoing suffering of families who, decades later, are still searching for answers about the fate of their loved ones—making this one of the most critical transitional justice cases in Yemen.

The Summer War of 1994

The Summer War of 1994 represented one of the most significant milestones related to the issue of enforced disappearances in Yemen’s contemporary history. Just four years after the declaration of Yemeni unity on May 22, 1990—which resulted from the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen into a single state— political and military tensions escalated between the two partners in the unification, against a backdrop of disputes over power-sharing, the restructuring of the armed forces and security agencies, and the management of the transitional period. Although the Covenant and Agreement was signed in the Jordanian capital of Amman in February 1994, it failed to contain the crisis, and armed clashes broke out in late April 1994, before escalating into a full-scale war that ended with military forces and armed groups loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh taking control of the city of Aden on July 7, 1994, and the declaration that the war had ended.

During the military operations and the subsequent security and military measures, the country witnessed widespread human rights violations affecting both civilians and military personnel. A large number of southern military personnel, leaders of the former state, members of the Yemeni Socialist Party, civilian employees, and political activists were detained on the basis of their political or military affiliations, while others were subjected to security crackdowns after the end of hostilities. Meanwhile, a number of people disappeared without their places of detention or fate being disclosed, and their families were denied any official information about them.

This period was also marked by extrajudicial executions, the concealment of the bodies of a number of victims, and the failure to disclose their burial sites—all of which have caused their families to suffer for decades. In a number of cases, the fate of individuals remained unknown even after the war ended, with no independent investigations opened and no accountability for those responsible for the violations. This contributed to the entrenchment of impunity and eroded the trust of victims and their families in the institutions of justice.

The effects of the war were not limited to the period of armed conflict but extended into the years that followed. The process of reestablishing state authority in the southern governorates was accompanied by security campaigns and measures targeting a number of former military personnel and officials, while the cases of the missing and those subjected to enforced disappearance remained unresolved. Despite repeated calls from the victims’ families, civil society organizations, and human rights groups to open independent investigations and reveal the fate of those who were forcibly disappeared, no sufficient official steps have been taken to locate them, determine their fate, or hold those responsible for the violations accountable.

Over time, the issue of persons missing and forcibly disappeared in the context of the 1994 war has become one of the most prominent unresolved human rights issues in Yemen, where, more than three decades later, dozens of families continue to seek the truth about the fate of their relatives, amid a persistent lack of truth, accountability, and justice. This issue is one of the most striking manifestations of the enduring impact of the armed conflict on victims and their families, and it underscores that uncovering the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, and ensuring their families’ right to know the truth, are essential prerequisites for achieving transitional justice, reconciliation, and building sustainable peace in Yemen.

The War on Terror After 2001

The September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States brought about a fundamental shift in security policies at both the international and regional levels. Yemen was among the countries that became extensively involved in counterterrorism efforts, given the growing activity of al-Qaeda and the fact that Yemen was considered one of the main battlegrounds in the fight against armed groups. In this context, the Yemeni government strengthened its security and intelligence cooperation with the United States and a number of Western countries, particularly in the areas of intelligence sharing, security capacity-building, and the conduct of pursuit and arrest operations, in parallel with an escalation of airstrikes targeting individuals suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda.

This shift led to an expansion of the powers of the security and military agencies—primarily the Political Security Agency and the National Security Agency (established in 2002), along with the Central Security Forces and the Special Forces—in pursuing individuals suspected of belonging to or supporting extremist groups. As the scope of security operations expanded, growing concerns emerged regarding respect for legal safeguards and human rights, given the adoption of exceptional measures in arrest, detention, and interrogation.

During this period, there were multiple cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance involving individuals suspected of belonging to or sympathizing with al-Qaeda, or of having alleged ties to members of the organization. In a number of cases, individuals were detained for extended periods in undisclosed security or military facilities without being brought before a judge or being allowed to contact their families or lawyers; in some cases, the authorities denied their detention or refused to disclose their whereabouts, thereby placing them outside the protection of the law.

This phase was also marked by an expansion of security handover operations and intelligence cooperation with the United States, during which a number of individuals were arrested inside Yemen or returned to the country after being detained abroad, amid allegations of violations of legal safeguards during detention and interrogation. Conversely, this period saw the United States carry out military operations and drone strikes targeting individuals suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda. These operations, in turn, raised legal and human rights questions regarding their compliance with international law, particularly when they resulted in civilian casualties.

Although counterterrorism measures were based on security considerations related to addressing real threats, the absence of effective judicial oversight, the expansion of the security agencies’ powers, and the reliance on arbitrary detention in some cases contributed to the entrenchment of patterns of violations, including enforced disappearance, which affected a number of detainees and left their families for years without knowing their fate or whereabouts. This phase marked a continuation of the use of exceptional security measures outside the framework of legal safeguards and paved the way for the persistence of these patterns during subsequent phases of the conflict in Yemen.

The Six Sa’ada Wars, 2004–2010

The Six Sa’ada Wars represent one of the most significant periods marked by a notable escalation in patterns of violations related to arbitrary deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance in Yemen prior to the outbreak of the full-scale armed conflict in 2014. These wars broke out between government military forces and tribal groups loyal to them, on one side, and the Ansar Allah(Houthis) group, on the other, in the northern province of Sa’ada, before their effects spread to the provinces of Amran, Hajjah, Al-Jawf, and parts of the Sana’a Governorate. The first round began in June 2004 following clashes that ended with the death of the group’s founder, Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and was followed by five other rounds of fighting that continued intermittently until a ceasefire was declared in February 2010, after the sixth round, which saw direct military intervention by Saudi Arabia in the border regions.

In the early stages of the conflict, the Yemeni government treated Ansar Allah (Houthis) as an armed insurgency threatening the state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, As the clashes spread and rounds of fighting continued, Sa’ada Governorate became a relatively closed conflict zone, and strict restrictions were imposed on access by the media, human rights organizations, and humanitarian groups, which significantly limited the ability to independently document violations committed by various parties to the conflict.

During the years of war, grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law were committed in the context of military operations, including indiscriminate shelling, forced displacement, destruction of civilian property, arbitrary detention, and enforced disappearances. Security and military forces carried out widespread arrest campaigns in many governorates, targeting individuals suspected of belonging to or supporting Ansar Allah (Houthis). The arrests also targeted religious scholars, tribal elders, civilians, family members of wanted individuals, and residents of areas considered loyal to the group. In many cases, individuals were arrested without judicial warrants and transferred to detention facilities run by security or military agencies, while their families were prevented from learning their whereabouts or communicating with them; in some cases, the authorities denied their detention or refused to disclose their fate.

Conversely, Ansar Allah (Houthis) has also been linked to incidents of arbitrary detention involving members of government forces, fighters loyal to the government, and individuals accused of collaborating with the authorities. A number of them went missing during the conflict or after falling into the group’s custody, with no information disclosed regarding their fate or place of detention, given the absence of independent mechanisms to verify their circumstances.

In its 2008 report titled “Incidents of Disappearances and Arbitrary Detentions in the Context of the Armed Conflict with Houthi Rebels in Yemen,” Human Rights Watch documented multiple cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance linked to the conflict in Sa’ada, It noted that Yemeni authorities detained individuals for extended periods without formal charges or bringing them before a judge, and in some cases denied detaining individuals or refused to disclose their whereabouts. It also reported that a number of detainees were held incommunicado for extended periods and were denied contact with their families or access to legal assistance, in violation of fundamental guarantees of a fair trial and the right to liberty and personal security.

Successive rounds of the war led to a growing number of missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance—both civilians and combatants—at a time when state institutions were either unable or unwilling to conduct effective investigations into the victims’ fates, nor was any independent mechanism established to determine the fate of the missing or to locate the burial sites of the dead whose bodies had not been returned to their families. The military nature of the conflict, the absence of judicial oversight, and restrictions on access to combat zones have all contributed to deepening the suffering of families who have continued to search for information about their missing or forcibly disappeared relatives.

The Southern Peaceful Movement

The historical phase of the peaceful Southern movement—in its most prominent form as a civil protest movement—can be defined as the period stretching from 2007 until the outbreak of full-scale war in 2015; however, its roots go back to an earlier period, particularly to the political and social repercussions that followed the war of the summer of 1994. In the years following the war, grievances accumulated in the southern governorates related to the retirement or dismissal of a number of southern military personnel, security officers, and civil servants; land and property disputes; and a sense of diminished participation and representation in state institutions, as well as political and economic marginalization.

In 2006, initiatives and forums emerged that sought to overcome the effects of past conflicts in the south—particularly the events of January 1986—and helped create a shared social and political space that preceded the emergence of the movement in its mass form. In 2007, protests by retired military and security personnel began, demanding a resolution to their employment and financial situations and addressing the effects of their marginalization; these protests then rapidly expanded to include broader social and political segments of society.

As the movement expanded and its political and popular demands evolved, the response of the authorities and security agencies to its activities and events intensified; on multiple occasions, this response was characterized by excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, and restrictions on political gatherings and events, creating an environment conducive to cases of enforced disappearance, As political demands grew more ambitious, security agencies—particularly Political Security, Central Security, and the police—intensified their pursuit of certain activists and field leaders. A number of them were arrested without immediate disclosure of their places of detention or allowing their families to contact them, as part of a broader pattern of security measures aimed at curbing the movement’s activities and containing its political expansion.

As the Saleh regime’s crackdown on the peaceful movement intensified, the scope of the demands gradually expanded, particularly during 2008 and 2009. The protests moved beyond sector-specific demands to adopt political demands centered on ending what the protesters viewed as the political and economic marginalization of the South, addressing issues of land, employment, and representation in state institutions, and objecting to the outcomes of the summer 1994 war, and the manner in which the unified state was subsequently governed. As a result, disengagement from the North and the restoration of the former Southern state became a declared demand among broad sectors of the movement, alongside other currents that, at various stages, proposed reforming the path of unity, self-rule, or federal arrangements.

Since then, the movement has ceased to be merely a protest movement by retirees or those affected by the policies following the 1994 war; rather, it has become a broader political and social movement that directly addresses the future of unity and the nature of the relationship between the North and the South. During the 2011 uprising, the movement’s activities intersected with protests demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the overthrow of the regime; demands for secession were temporarily suspended as the movement joined the general protests, before calls for disassociation and independence returned to the forefront later on. The movement continued to organize sit-ins and mass rallies until 2014 and early 2015, before the outbreak of the conflict and the escalation of armed clashes in the south shifted the situation to a different phase, during which southern forces became involved in armed resistance, thereby altering the nature of the phase known as the peaceful Southern Movement.

The 2011 Popular Protests

In early 2011, Yemen witnessed a widespread wave of popular protests influenced by the political upheavals then sweeping the Arab region. Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in the capital, Sana’a, and in a number of governorates to demand political reform, an end to corruption, broader political participation, and an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule, which had lasted for more than three decades. Although the protests were peaceful at the outset, they soon took a more complex turn as repression escalated, state institutions became divided, and armed clashes broke out between various parties.

During this period, a number of protest participants, political activists, and journalists were arrested and detained because of their political or media activities. Human rights organizations also documented cases of extrajudicial detention, enforced disappearances, and instances in which detainees were denied contact with their families or lawyers for varying periods of time—violations that exposed the fragility of legal safeguards and the inability of state institutions at the time to protect fundamental rights amid the escalating political crisis.

Enforced Disappearances in Yemen in the Context of the Ongoing Conflict

On November 23, 2011, the Gulf Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism were signed, providing for the transfer of power to Vice President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the start of a transitional phase. Despite the hopes that accompanied this phase, it did not include any substantive measures to address the cases of missing and disappeared persons linked to previous conflicts, nor did it establish effective mechanisms for transitional justice or truth-telling, which allowed the legacy of impunity to persist.

During the transitional period, between 2013 and 2014, the influence of Ansar Allah (Houthis) grew beyond its traditional stronghold in Sa’ada Governorate, as it gradually expanded its control toward the governorates of Amran, Al-Jawf, and Hajjah.

Ansar Allah (Houthis) Storm and Take Control of Sana’a (2014–2015)

On September 21, 2014, the group seized control of the capital and key state institutions, ushering the country into a new phase of political and military conflict.

As the group tightened its grip on state institutions and security agencies, patterns of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance increasingly emerged, targeting political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, academics, and individuals accused of opposing the group or criticizing its policies. In many cases, detainees were transferred to undisclosed detention facilities or denied contact with their families and lawyers, while in some cases the detaining authorities denied their presence or refused to disclose their places of detention.

This phase marked a significant turning point in the history of enforced disappearances in Yemen, as the practice began to take on a more widespread and organized character, with security and intelligence agencies and unofficial detention facilities being used to conceal dissidents or suspects.

The Coalition’s Military Intervention (The Saudi/UAE-led Coalition)

On March 26, 2015, military operations led by the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition began in support of the internationally recognized government. As the military operations expanded, the conflict in Yemen evolved into a large-scale armed conflict that engulfed most parts of the country, involving multiple controlling authorities, detention centers, and armed groups.

The breakdown of state institutions and the proliferation of controlling actors have led to an unprecedented increase in the risk of enforced disappearance. Civilians have become vulnerable to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance at the hands of multiple parties, often without judicial orders or legal safeguards. Furthermore, the proliferation of both official and unofficial detention sites has made it even more difficult to track the fate of detainees.

In areas under the control of Yemeni factions backed by the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition —which now controls a vast swath of Yemeni territory—the governorates of Aden, Taiz, Marib, Shabwah, Hadramaut, Lahj, and others have witnessed incidents of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance committed by security and military units affiliated with the internationally recognized government and the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition As the conflict dragged on, new local actors emerged in the ongoing conflict, foremost among them the Southern Transitional Council, which was founded in 2017 with direct support from the United Arab Emirates. The Council and its affiliated security and military units have managed to establish military and security control over Aden and parts of the governorates of Lahj, Abyan, and Al-Dhale’, and have established parallel authorities to the official state. Through its Security Belt Forces and affiliated military elite units, the Council committed systematic violations, including enforced disappearances targeting political opponents, members of the Southern Movement who rejected the Council’s policies, and ordinary citizens suspected of dissent. These arrests were often carried out outside the law, and the victims were held in secret prisons not subject to any judicial oversight.

Regional powers involved in the conflict in Yemen—particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—also played a direct role in supporting local parties that used enforced disappearance as a means of ensuring security control, with unofficial prisons established under the supervision of foreign forces or their local allies. and the fate of many detainees in these prisons remained unknown, despite appeals from their families and documentation of their cases by human rights organizations.

Over time, as the conflict expanded and the landscape of control became more complex, the crime of enforced disappearance has become a persistent pattern in the behavior of all parties to the conflict in Yemen. These violations have gone beyond being isolated incidents to become a systematic, widespread policy through which public life is governed by the logic of force, with each authority acting as an independent entity and committing violations free from any legal accountability.

Against this backdrop, and in the face of impunity, Yemen has become a breeding ground for enforced disappearances and other violations and crimes. With the absence of an effective national justice system and the lack of political will to stop these violations, opportunities for justice have vanished, the rights of victims have been neglected, and trust between citizens and these authorities has eroded. This has resulted in devastating psychological, social, and humanitarian consequences that are not limited to the victims themselves but extend to their families and communities, foreshadowing further division and fragmentation of the national fabric. Violations involving arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance have escalated to such an extent that the course of the conflict has come to reflect the collapse of the state and the disintegration of its institutions.Extrajudicial arrests and secret centers for enforced disappearance have become a cornerstone of the policy of every party to the conflict.