“The siege of Taiz is a human tragedy.” A report by the American Center for Justice documents the crimes of the Houthi militias in Taiz.

Today, Saturday, the American Center for Justice ( ACJ ) launched its report , entitled “Taiz Governorate, a Humanitarian Tragedy,” highlighting the human suffering that the city of Taiz has been facing for 9 years as a result of the siege imposed by the Houthi group.

The report reviewed the disturbing humanitarian dimensions resulting from this siege, which caused suffering to more than a million and a half Yemenis, including almost complete deprivation of the most basic necessities of life. The Houthi group resorted to collective punishment against the residents of Taiz to take revenge on them for their rejection of the group’s seizure of power by force.

The report documented the violations that occurred during the period between March 2015 and December 2023, when 3,021 citizens were killed and 6,361 others were injured as a result of sniping, bombing, and planting mines. It also documented the arrest of 477 people, the forcible disappearance of 79, and the torture of 59 others.

The report also collected a large collection of figures and testimonies about the effects of the extended siege. These numbers showed the deprivation of the population of their most prominent rights, such as the right to life, movement, and physical safety, in addition to the deterioration of economic conditions and the loss of many sources of income, which negatively affected social life and increased the rates of divorce, family disintegration, and children dropping out of schools.

The center said that it monitored, through its field team, the Houthi group obstructing humanitarian relief convoys in 31 incidents, as the Houthi group confiscated 22 trucks of food and medical supplies for the city’s residents, and allocated these supplies to the war effort.

The report also documented in the first year of the siege the death of 26 civilians as a result of the lack of oxygen from hospitals, including 9 children and 7 women, explaining that the siege led to the displacement of 44,749 families, including 214,693 individuals, in 17 districts of the governorate, in addition to the displacement of 22 villages by the Houthi group. In the districts of Al-Ta'aziyah, Jabal Habashi, Maqbanah, and Sabr Al-Mawadim.

The blocking of main roads prevented health care for kidney failure and cancer patients in the governorate, and 20,621 university and technical institute students were also affected. As a result, the prices of basic materials and medicines rose by 500%, and transportation fares for people and goods by 1,000%.

The American Center for Justice concluded its report with a set of demands, most notably: calling on the international community not to link the issue of the siege of Taiz to the political and military file in the negotiations, and to deal with it as a humanitarian issue in need of urgent intervention.

The center also called on the Houthi group to lift the siege on the city, open the main roads from the eastern, western and northern sides, and allow the entry of goods and humanitarian aid, and the safe passage of travelers to and from the city, stressing that the right to life, movement, work and freedom are human rights that cannot be negotiated.