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UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Tuesday strongly condemned the storming of his Office’s representation in Sana’a by the Ansar Allah de facto authorities and renewed his call for the immediate and unconditional release of all UN staff detained in Yemen.
“Entering a UN office without permission and seizing documents and property by force are wholly inconsistent with the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. This is also a serious attack on the ability of the UN to perform its mandate, including with respect to the promotion and protection of human rights, which our Office is there to defend,” UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told the biweekly UN press briefing in Geneva.
On 3 August 2024, Ansar Allah de facto authorities sent a “delegation” to the premises of the UN Human Rights Office in Sana’a that forced national staff to hand over belongings, including documents, furniture and vehicles, in addition to the office’s keys. Shamdasani said that they were still in control of the premises.
On 6 and 7 June, the de facto authorities detained 13 UN staff, including six employees of the UN Human Rights Office, in addition to over 50 NGO workers and an embassy staff member. Two other UN Human Rights staff had already been detained since November 2021 and August 2023 respectively, in addition to two other UN staff detained previously. They are all being held incommunicado.
Shamdasani said that multiple calls for the release of the detained staff – from the High Commissioner and other high-level officials – have not been heeded.
“We regret that all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. We appeal again, with a heavy heart, for their immediate and unconditional release,” Shamdasani said.
“We are doing all we can to make sure they are united with their loved ones as soon as possible. Until then, the de facto authorities must ensure they are treated with full respect for their human rights, and that they are able to contact their families and legal representatives,” Shamdasani told reporters.
“It is crucial that the de facto authorities respect the United Nations and its independence, release all detained UN staff immediately, and create conditions in which our Office and other UN agencies can continue their critical work for people of Yemen without threats or hinderance.”
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
In Geneva:
Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan - + 41 76 223 77 62 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org
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UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on storming of UN Human Rights office in Sana’a, renewed calls for release of detained UN staff
TRT: 1’35
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 August 2024 – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior shot: Palais des Nations
- Cutaway: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Entering a UN office without permission and seizing documents and property by force are wholly inconsistent with the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. This is also a serious attack on the ability of the UN to perform its mandate, including with respect to the promotion and protection of human rights, which our Office is there to defend.”
- Cutaway: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We appeal again, with a heavy heart, for their immediate and unconditional release.
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): We are doing all we can to make sure they are united with their loved ones as soon as possible. Until then, the de facto authorities must ensure that they are treated with full respect for their human rights, and that they are able to contact their families and legal representatives.”
- Cutaway: Briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “It is crucial that the de facto authorities respect the United Nations and its independence, release all detained UN staff immediately, and create conditions in which our Office and other UN agencies can continue their critical work for people of Yemen without threats or hinderance.”
- Cutaways: Briefing room
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
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Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
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Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
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