Houthis detain 20 UN staff, including 15 foreigners

A UN official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday that the Houthis are holding UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, British national Peter Hawkins, among 20 UN employees detained after the group stormed a UN compound in Sana’a.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Houthis are holding five local staff members and 15 international employees inside the UN compound, which was raided on Saturday.

Hawkins is the highest-ranking UN official to be detained by the Houthis in Yemen as part of an ongoing campaign targeting UN workers that has continued for nearly two months in the war-torn country.

Last month, the Houthis briefly detained Hawkins’ deputy, Jordanian national Lana Shukri Kataw, in Sana’a before releasing her after several days.

Peter Hawkins, 64, was appointed UNICEF Representative to Yemen in November 2022, after previously serving in the same role in Iraq (2015–2019) and Nigeria (2019–2022). 

Before joining the United Nations in 2015, he previously worked on governmental and non-governmental relief projects in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

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In an interview published last month on the UN website, Hawkins spoke about the challenges of working in Yemen, especially the detention of UN staff, saying that “this creates uncertainty about the safety and security of our personnel.”

Earlier on Sunday, Jean Alam, spokesperson for the UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen, said that the United Nations is “in contact with the authorities in Sana’a, the concerned member states, and the Government of Yemen to resolve this dangerous situation as soon as possible, to end the detention of all staff, and to restore full control over its facilities in Sana’a.”

The spokesperson confirmed that armed Houthi security forces entered the UN compound in Sana’a without authorisation.

On Saturday, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that a total of 53 UN employees are being held by the Houthis, adding, “We will continue to call for an end to their arbitrary detention.”

Dujarric also noted that contact with some of the detained staff members has been lost for years.

The Houthis had previously stormed UN offices in Sana’a on 31 August and detained more than 11 staff members, according to the United Nations.

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