UAE-backed militias in south Yemen brutally abuse migrants: HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed that Yemen’s UAE-backed “ex-officials” based in Aden detain and brutally abuse African refugees passing through the war-torn country’s southern port city.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed that Yemen’s UAE-backed “ex-officials” based in Aden detain and brutally abuse African refugees passing through the war-torn country’s southern port city.

The New York-based rights group reported on Thursday that the former Yemeni officials controlling Aden “torture, rape and execute” the refugees from the Horn of Africa in a detention center and forcibly deport them out to sea.

“Guards at the migrant detention center in Aden have brutally beaten men, raped women and boys, and sent hundreds out to sea in overloaded boats,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights director at HRW.

Several hundred Ethiopians, Somalis, and Eritreans have been held at the detention center since 2017, the group said.

Separately, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) also reported the detention, abuse and forcible deportation of refugees in Yemen, without specifying the location.