Mrs. President of the Forum, ladies and gentlemen, I am Iman
Hamid, President of INSAF Center for Defending Freedoms &
Minorities
Given the ongoing conflict, the position of minorities in Yemen is
growing more serious and complicated.
The Houthis, in particular, an armed group that since September
2014 has taken over Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, and sizable portions
of northern, central, and western Yemen, have practiced
discriminatory and violent policies against weak or disadvantaged
Yemeni groups, like the rest of the Yemeni Jews (a few hundred)
and Baha'is, in addition to other vulnerable Yemeni (and nonYemeni) groups, such as dark-skinned people or those displaced to
Yemen from neighbouring African countries.
Similarly, non-Houthi parties to the war in Yemen do not express
any compassion for the suffering of these people unless it is tied to
anti-Houthi propaganda. Some religious and sectarian groups, such
as Ismailis and Sufis, have experienced violence and assassinations
of some figures who represent these groups, and restrictions have
been placed on their cultural and social activities in other regions
in Yemen.
Even though some groups of other religions, such as Christianity,
are growing, their situation is the most difficult when it comes to
issue of minorities in Yemen, because such groups are unable to
express themselves because the Islamic legislator, particularly in
our country, views anyone who practises a different religion than
Islam as an apostate who must be put to death. The temptation to
demand their death would therefore increase if these people
revealed their new religions, and the presence of religious
extremist groups in Yemen would make them a target for their
violators.
The Jewish community is the target of severe violations and ethnic
and religious cleansing by Houthis; at least 10 families were forced
to flee their homes in 2020 and 2021. Few people were left,