The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory has expressed its concern about the forcible displacement of residents in Jabal al-Faris neighbourhood in Crater, Aden province, by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias.
The Geneva-based observatory said in a press statement that it was briefed on Sunday with information that the STC burned dozens of houses in the Jabal al-Faris neighborhood.
It confirmed that the STC militia did so after displacing the residents of the neighbourhood by force of arms, indicating that this took place on October 12, and targeted dozens of families.
The statement said that the UAE-backed STC militia asked the residents to “evacuate their homes and leave the area in preparation for them turning it into a military area.”
The expulsion coincided with the implementation of demolitions of a number of houses housing local residents and displaced people, after forcibly evicting them.
The STC is pursuing a policy of displacement in some of the areas it controls to serve its undeclared goals, in reference to obscure plans made by the UAE.
According to the observatory, forced displacements have been recorded in a number of areas in the south of the country, the most prominent of which was the displacement of dozens of Yemenis from the island of Socotra last year.
The observatory stressed that this is a “discriminatory practice that may be aimed at imposing certain demographic facts on the ground.”
Many areas of southern Yemen have been witnessing popular demonstrations for the past week, held to protest against the difficult living and economic conditions.
