UN Chief Demands Release of 118 Detained Staff as Yemen Cases Mount

Overview

• António Guterres called for the immediate release of 118 UN employees held in different countries.
• UN figures show 179 staff were arrested or detained last year, and 118 remain held now, up from 52 a year ago.
• In Yemen, Houthi authorities are holding 73 UN workers, including eight from the human rights office, and some have been locked up for five years.
• Human rights chief Volker Türk and General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said these detentions break international law and slow life-saving relief.
• JURIST highlighted treaty rules that require states to protect, not interrogate, UN staff and to free them at once, while AllAfrica stressed the solidarity day that honors abducted UN journalist Alec Collett.