The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] expressed concern [press release] on Wednesday over alleged human rights violations occurring in Yemen in recent months. The UN Human Rights Office in Yemen [UN country page] documented violations committed by all sides including the killing and arbitrary detention of civilians and the recruitment of children to control armed vehicles and streets used for military purposes. The Yemeni authorities have not launched an official investigation into the violations, and the UN urged the national authorities to do so to ensure justice for the victims. UN Spokesperson Rupert Colville explained:

We call on all sides of the political divide in Yemen to renounce the use of violence and to participate in the ongoing national processes including the drafting of the new Constitution and the implementation of the outcomes of the national dialogue to avoid a descent into further instability and bloodshed.

The OHCHR recommended that the Yemeni government create a commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations in 2011, but the country’s officials never acted upon this recommendation. The OHCHR stated it will continue to monitor the situation in Yemen and encourage the parties to settle their disputes peacefully.

The UN and other advocacy organizations have repeatedly urged the Yemeni government to investigate possible human rights violations and to reform the country’s laws in accordance with international human rights standards. In May Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that traffickers in Yemen were holding African migrants in detention camps [JURIST report] and using torture as a method of extorting money from their families with the cooperation of local officials. In February then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned attacks [JURIST report] in Al Dhale Governorate by Yemeni armed forces, which disproportionately affected civilians. Last year HRW called on Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference (NDC) [official website] to endorse proposed legislation [JURIST report] that would strike down a 2012 law providing blanket immunity [JURIST report] to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The amended legislation would allow Saleh to be prosecuted for any crime, including any human rights violations. Additionally, HRW called on the NDC to incorporate stronger protections for women’s rights into its new constitution, and urged the government to stop seeking and enforcing the death penalty for juveniles [JURIST reports]. HRW also criticized [JURIST report] Yemeni authorities for failing to investigate top officials for the shooting deaths of 45 anti-government demonstrators who were killed in March 2011.