At the outset, I would like to sincerely congratulate His Excellency Mr. Csaba Korosi and the friendly State of Hungary on his election as President of the General Assembly. I wish him every success in managing the work of this session, the theme of which is “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”.
I also sincerely congratulate his predecessor, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, representative of Maldives, for his efforts to uphold the purposes and principles of the Organization.
I further commend and pay tribute to the role played by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in strengthening the presence of the United Nations amid all those global and intertwined challenges.
I would like to thank all United Nations staff, agencies and envoys for their tireless efforts to alleviate the suffering of our Yemeni people. Through their good offices and continued efforts, they have striven to bring peace and stability to my country, which has been drained by eight years of war and major humanitarian crisis caused by the Houthi terrorist militias, supported by the Iranian regime. I take this opportunity to sincerely congratulate our great Yemeni people who, concurrent with this meeting, are celebrating their national days on 26 September, 14 October and 30 November. Those dates represent key milestones of cultural and social development in my country, including the proclamation of the Republican regime in 1962, which is being undermined by the new Imams six decades after the proclamation, which was based on the principles of freedom and justice and the eradication of disparities and racial discrimination, in addition to women’s participation and the guarantee of rights and liberties.
It is an honour for me to speak to the Assembly today for the first time as President of the Presidential Leadership Council of the Republic of Yemen. For the eighth year in a row, a Yemeni leader is addressing
the Assembly about the war, destruction and the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Every year, our leaders come to this edifice to reveal the further suffering and pain of the Yemeni people and to recall the memory of the courageous leaders, women, children, neighbours, friends and work colleagues whom we are losing day after day because of the war, epidemics, illness or hunger. Every year passes without the adoption of a robust position on the Yemeni dossier, while our losses pile up and the militias and terrorist groups become increasingly dangerous in their transnational threats and perpetrate stark violations of human rights that have been the subject of consensus within the Organization for more than 70 years now.
I am here today to share with the Assembly once again the story of the great and patient Yemeni people, their struggle and suffering, as well as their questions addressed to all of us. They are asking if we can undertake serious work this time to bring an end to the bloodshed, save lives, defeat extremism and terrorism and protect the will of our people and their legitimate aspirations to recover their State, participate in political life, live a good life and rid themselves of sectarian and religious extremism and hate speech.
The international community has consistently held a unified position on the Yemeni issue, and we are proud of and appreciative for that. In the beginning, there was the plan to transfer power based on the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiatives and its implementation mechanism in 2011. Then came the inclusive National Dialogue Conference, which ended in January 2014 and involved all components of the Yemeni society, including the Houthis. That led to a reference document guaranteeing the Yemeni people’s broad participation; meeting their aspirations for democracy, justice, equality in citizenship and women’s broad participation; and preserving the right of vulnerable categories of society and freedom of belief. It culminated with the Security Council meeting that took place in Sana’a in 2013.
That dream did not last long after the Houthi terrorist militias turned against the national consensus that arose from the inclusive dialogue. The militias prevented the holding of the popular referendum on the new constitution. They invaded the capital, Sana’a, and other Yemeni cities while hunting down the President of the country and pushing the Government of national consensus to Aden. They tried to assassinate the President and took control of the State institutions. They declared a war on neighbouring countries and the entire world. That is how the destructive war started, which today poses a real threat to the security of the region, in particular international navigation routes and global energy supplies.
In the years since, the war has killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people and caused 20 million to suffer from famine. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have had to seek refuge in various countries and continents. There are more than 4 million internally displaced persons living in camps in extreme conditions. The war destroyed the people’s means of subsistence along with our nascent democracy. It also brought epidemics and floods related to climate change, causing death, destruction and the collapse of our protection network and governmental care. That left us with limited capabilities to save lives, given the intransigence of the terrorist militias and their rejection of all efforts to achieve sustainable peace, rebuild our country and realize development.
On 7 April, a new era based on partnership and national consensus began in our country with the establishment of the Presidential Leadership Council as the legitimate representative of the Yemeni people and their political will. It was welcomed by our people, the region and the international community. Since it was established, the Presidential Leadership Council has strived to achieve peace, end the human suffering and the lofty goals of restoring the State, ending the coup and reactivating the system of rights and freedoms, along with citizenship equality, enabling women and youth to decide their future, and achieve the desired peace. Over the past six months, the Presidential Leadership Council has worked closely with the Government of political competencies and with our brothers in the alliance that supports the legitimate Government, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and various regional and international partners. Urgently needed reform programmes are being set up to activate our institutions, improve services, curb the collapse of our national currency, and tackle severe inflation and the global food crisis.
We have prioritized the rebuilding of our security and military institutions, as well as the judicial branch, which had ceased its functions for about two years. We are working to fight corruption and combat terrorism and organized crime. We are activating law enforcement institutions, realizing justice and protecting public freedoms and social peace.
The Presidential Leadership Council stresses its adherence to the peace approach pursuant to the terms of the comprehensive solution of the Yemeni crisis reference, namely, the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and its implementation mechanism, as well as with the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, in particular Security Council resolution 2216 (2015), which all ensure lasting peace that will enable the State to recover its exclusive authority, constitutional institutions and republican system. We also declare our full respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law and the various conventions and treaties adopted and ratified by the Republic of Yemen. We are working closely with the neighbouring countries and establishing constructive partnerships with the United Nations and the international community to ensure peace building and achieve security, stability, prosperity and freedom for all the peoples of the world. Our Presidential Leadership Council is committed to establishing an approach in line with the Charter and tasks of the United Nations, while facilitating the work of its humanitarian agencies, political missions and relevant oversight mechanisms to guarantee the political, economic and social rights of women and to bring an end to child exploitation and recruitment.
In our search for peace, we have endured painful experiences with the rebellious Houthi militias since the start of the Yemeni crisis. They have broken all their obligations and commitments, beginning with the peace and partnership agreement upon occupying the capital, Sana’a, in September 2014, followed by the first and second meetings in Geneva, the Kuwait consultations and the Stockholm Agreement, and finally the ongoing truce, during which the legitimate Government lost nearly 300 martyrs and more than 1,000 were injured due to the violations perpetrated by the terrorist militias.
In only one week, the humanitarian truce will end. The Presidential Leadership Council reminds the international community that the Government has respected all elements of the truce, namely, launching regular commercial flights to Sana’a airport and facilitating the entry of oil products to Al-Hudaydah ports in an attempt to alleviate the suffering of our people. The Houthi terrorist militias maintain their closure of roads to Ta’iz, which has been besieged for seven years, as well as roads to other provinces. They do not pay the wages of their employees or release prisoners, detainees and abductees. They resort to any excuse to violate the truce and obstruct United Nations and international efforts to extend it in order to achieve the comprehensive peace that we all seek. We want a lasting peace. The truce proved without a doubt that we lack a serious partner who wants peace.
The Yemenis are now convinced that it will be difficult to achieve sustained calm without strict deterrence against a sectarian armed group. In that context, we stress the steadfast position of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council welcoming the renewal of the truce. However, the renewal must not take place if it is not in the interest of the Yemeni people if it is used to prepare for another round of war or if it undermines our sovereignty. The renewal must not empower the terrorist militias, which threaten not only Yemen but the whole region and the entire world. For us, peace is a strategic choice. There is no doubt about that. We are perfectly aware of the difficulty of leading our country without the involvement of all Yemenis. However, we cannot allow any armed group to enjoy the monopoly of power and law enforcement. That is the foundation of a State that the Yemeni people deserve, like all other peoples of the world.
For the terrorist militias, the main issue of establishing peace is related not to their concern for sovereignty, as they claim, but to ensure a place above the State and above the people for their leaders, who claim that they have a divine mandate to govern the people. They export transboundary violence and adopt a hostile approach against peace and coexistence while calling for hatred, infidelity and hostility. I am aware that it is difficult for other States that have long lived in peace and stability to understand that there are human beings who claim to have a divine mandate to rule other human beings in this era. They believe that peace constitutes a mental invasion and a soft war. However, that is one of the common realities among the Houthi terrorist militias, Al-Qaida, Da’esh, Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations throughout the world.
The theme of this year’s session of the General Assembly — “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges” — first requires establishing clear values for peacebuilding under a stable Government and a strict deterrence to protect the political process and pave its way by all means. However, if we continue to fear that the use of force will undermine attempts to strengthen a precarious calm and that designating that group as terrorists will lead to a humanitarian disaster, then we must look for equally
deterrent alternatives. There is nothing better than the international community’s support for the legitimate Government to ensure that the values of freedom, peace and coexistence prevail. From an academic point of view, diplomacy is based on bringing different points of view closer. We can only implement diplomacy as such in the context of a legitimate regime. Entities that deny the rules of the international system must not be communicated with; otherwise, the principles and the Charter of the Organization will be violated.
While the world is not paying enough attention to the suffering of the Yemeni people and their voices calling for freedom and good living and is focused on other hotspots of tension across the world, we have had good brothers on our side and an alliance to support legitimacy, led by the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have sacrificed blood and money and taken responsibility for defending a State Member of the United Nations on behalf of the international community. They have also hosted millions of Yemeni refugees, who have been accorded many benefits in those countries, including work, residency, medical care and education. This year, the Presidential Leadership Council and the Government of political competencies have received support in various fields from our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. We also cannot forget to commend the funding, humanitarian and development aid we have received from the United States of America, the European Union and the United Kingdom, in addition to other sincere friends as a support for our just cause.
Nevertheless, we are experiencing a wider gap in funding that threatens to close more relief programmes intended to save lives, including in the areas of food and health care. In addition to the need of rapid response from humanitarian organizations, it is also more important to invest in long-term income-generating projects and to channel all funds through the Central Bank in Aden in order to support the national currency and lower prices of basic goods so as to avoid a potential famine.
The obstacles imposed by the terrorist militias should not prevent us from shouldering our ethical responsibilities to avoid the imminent spill in the Red Sea of more than 1 million barrels of crude oil contained in the FSO SAFER oil tank for the past five years, which could lead to a destructive environmental disaster that would exceed fourfold the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Pacific Ocean in 1989. On this occasion, we thank all countries and Yemeni businessmen who contributed to the plan of salvaging the FSO SAFER, which the Houthi terrorist militias are using as leverage to exert pressure and make money.
We join all countries in seeking to ensure free navigation in international waters and in fighting extremism, terrorism and piracy. We also call for efforts to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in particular Iran’s nuclear programme, ballistic missiles and destructive role in the region. We also call on the international community to condemn Iran’s blatant interference in our country’s security and stability. Iran is transforming it to a cross-border platform for threatening activity. Iran must be subjected to sanctions under the resolutions of international legitimacy relevant to the Yemeni dossier. In that context, we call on Member States to commit themselves to the disarmament regime, while confronting Iran’s destabilizing influence in the region and preventing it from providing its militias with military technologies, such as ballistic missiles and drones, that are used to perpetrate acts of terrorism against civilians in our country and countries of the region, including planting millions of internationally banned mines on land and in the sea. Iran also targets international maritime routes, in stark violation of international law.
The Republic of Yemen stresses its steadfast position concerning the Palestinian question and achieving peace and a just and comprehensive solution to that question based on the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative in order to ensure the establishment of an independent State for the Palestinian people.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines respect for the inherent dignity of each human being with equal rights that constitute the bases of freedom, justice and peace in the world. That is why we always need to prioritize those rights in all tasks of the General Assembly on behalf of tens of thousands of our citizens who are refugees, detainees, kidnapped, disappeared or jailed, including journalists, activists, artists, relief workers and hostages of all ages. Members do not need more evidence to prove the stark violations committed in areas under the control of Houthi terrorist militias as the worst places for public freedom and human rights in the world.
I would like to conclude by telling a story. A Yemeni who survived the militias, when asked recently by a medical doctor in Cairo about his date of birth,
answered that he was born two weeks ago, meaning since he left Sana’a and survived the militias. However, he was extremely concerned about his family and friends whom he had left behind. That is why we must delay no further in our collective mission of returning millions of Yemeni people to life, hope and the future that members wish for their dear and dignified populations.