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In a flagrant violation of human rights and the values of the Yemeni people, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia issued a directive to its militiamen in December 2022 to ban women from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative.
The Houthi encroachment on women rights was not confined to travel. The militia in December 2022 went further and directed restaurant managers in Sanaa to require a marriage license for families wishing to eat at their restaurants.
Gender segregation was imposed in college campuses, and study times in universities were split into two shifts: Morning shift for women and evening shift for men. Several beauty salons, swimming pools and gyms for women were closed in Sanaa in August 2022. In October 2022, the Houthis banned photography shops from taking photos of women except for their faces when necessary.
Following in the steps of Daesh and Taliban groups, the Houthis are trying to squeeze the space in which women can operate freely, outlining women’s roles according to Houthi theological priorities.
Yemen’s civil war broke out in September 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthi militia seized Yemen’s capital of Sanaa and demanded a new government. The rebels then seized Yemen’s presidential palace in January 2015, forcing then President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to resign.
Rescinding his resignation, Hadi returned to Aden in September 2015 to lead a resistance supported by the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen.
The war has claimed the lives of over 150,000 since 2014, including over 14,500 civilians, 3,774 of whom have been children.
Sources: Global Conflict Tracker, Al Hurra, Amnesty International