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Press Release Civil Society Organizations Affirm the Legitimacy, Lawfulness, and Independence of Their Operation Call for the Release of Detainees and an End to Defamation Campaigns Against Them Wednesday, June 12, 2024 Civil Society Organizations Affirm the Legitimacy, Lawfulness, and Independence of Their Operation  Tweet Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Since early June, security forces affiliated with the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group authorities have raided the homes and offices of employees working for various international and local organizations. They have confiscated and searched their phones and electronic devices without disclosing any charges against them. These surprise raids occurred at different times during the night, with the homes and offices surrounded beforehand. The whereabouts and status of the detainees have remained unknown since their arrest, and they have been denied contact with lawyers or family members, constituting enforced disappearances and violating legal norms. On the evening of Monday, June 10, 2024, a statement by the Houthi Security and Intelligence Service announced the discovery of an alleged American-Israeli spy ring. Following this, Al Masirah TV, the Houthi-affiliated channel, broadcasted a video featuring what were described as confessions from a group of detainees who were employees of the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a, which has been closed for nearly a decade. This broadcast was part of a major media campaign filled with serious and unsubstantiated accusations against humanitarian organizations and their staff. The undersigned civil society organizations, working across various sectors and regions of Yemen, hereby assert: Commitment to Non-Harm Principle: Our operations are guided by the principle of causing no harm to individuals, communities, and states. This principle underpins all our interventions and activities, aimed primarily at creating positive impacts for millions of civilians. We uphold this as an ethical and institutional commitment, requiring heightened professional and ethical sensitivity among our humanitarian and development workers. Adherence to International and National Laws: All our activities and programs comply with international charters, principles, and Yemeni national laws, ensuring the humanitarian and developmental goals that serve millions of Yemenis are met transparently, honestly, and independently. Full Compliance with Yemeni Laws and Judicial Authority: We operate in full compliance with Yemeni laws and judicial authority under all circumstances. Willingness to Address Legal Complaints: We are prepared to respond to any legal complaints against our staff and to be accountable for any proven violations through a fair judicial process. Categorical rejection and clear condemnation of any attempts to utilize its operations, programs, and activities for the benefit of any foreign state or any political actor, and for any illegal acts, and for any acts that affect the integrity of Yemen, as a state and society. Integration with Yemeni Society: Our staff are integral members of Yemeni society, motivated by deeply-rooted Yemeni values of cooperation, aiding the vulnerable, and promoting good. Necessity of Dialogue: We emphasize the importance of dialogue with all authorities and parties as the best means to exchange views, clarify any misunderstandings regarding our activities and programs, and explore ways to improve the functioning, freedom, independence, efficiency, and integrity of our operations. Non-Adversarial Stance: We do not see ourselves in absolute opposition to any party and strive to foster cooperation with all to alleviate the war’s impact on millions of civilians. Significant Contributions: We highlight our substantial contributions in assisting millions of civilians during the war and stress the urgent need for our continued work and programs for the benefit of these populations. Adherence to Rights and Protections: We assert all rights guaranteed by the Yemeni Constitution and laws for our staff, particularly protection from abuse of power, presumption of innocence, protection from enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, mistreatment, the right to freedom and dignity, procedural justice, protection from defamation, and the right to a fair trial, including the right to legal representation and appeals. Regulated Donor Relations: Our relationships with donors are governed by written project agreements subject to oversight, evaluation, and auditing, in line with the principles of unconditional, non-directed support for humanitarian, developmental, and human rights programs. Finally, the undersigned civil society organizations call for: * Immediate release of all detainees. * An end to defamation, incitement, and unfounded accusations, and the need to stop these practices immediately. * Opening and enhancing channels for dialogue to address any issues and misunderstandings. * Recourse to the regular judiciary for accountability regarding any legal transgressions. The undersigned civil society organizations call on all civil society institutions and their staff to unite in facing these risks and challenges, to enhance the independence and freedom of civil society work, and to improve the quality and impact of their programs and operations. Signatories: 1- Mwatana for Human Rights 2- Association of Mothers of Abductees 3- Dameer Foundation for Rights and Freedoms 4- Mussala for human rights 5- PASS Foundation - Peace for Sustainable Communities 6- Foundation for the Protection of Law and the Promotion of Social Peace 8- Peace and Building Foundation 9- Adalah Foundation for Legal Development 10- Together We Rise Foundation for Women and Children Care 11- Yemen Center for Human Rights Studies 12- Resonate Yemen Foundation 13- Rowad Foundation for Development 14- Percent Foundation for Opinion Research andTransparency Promotion 15- Waai Foundation 16- Maali Foundation for Development 17- Droop Alamal Foundation 18 - Youth Without Borders Organization for Development 19 - Marib Dam Foundation for Community Development 20- Yemen Without Conflict Foundation 21- Siaq Organization for Youth and Development 22 - Wasl Peace Organization 23 - National Organization for Community Development 24- Develop your community organization 25 - Shahid Bin Habrish Development Foundation 26 - Aden Foundation for Rights and Development 27 - Democratic Youth Foundation 28- Watan Foundation for Development and Training 29-Ruaa Foundation for Development 30-Al-Amal Women’s Social Foundation 31-Joud Foundation for Sustainable Development 32-Watan Foundation for Development and Training 33-University Youth Foundation 34-Inqaz Foundation for Development

Within the third Output of "Peace-Building from the Ground Up A-Z" Project, NOON feminist Coalition is conducted A Gender Analysis meeting for the projects of Peace and Development coalition – PDC and Local Peace Councils - LPCs, in partnership with PASS Foundation - Peace for Sustainable Societies and SAFERWORLD Organization between the period 25-26 May 2024. Bahia Hassan Al-Sakkaf, the Project Manager, stressed during the meeting the importance of including gender in all projects submitted by the Peace and Development Coalition the Local Peace Councils, maltepe escort and indicated that the number of projects taksim escort five from Aden Governorate. The NOON Feminist Coalition was keen to provide consultations and feedback to the participants to adapt their submitted projects according to the gender analysis tool. The facilitator divided the participants into work groups, and the projects were reviewed and the context was analyzed in terms of gender, potential risks, community contribution, the role of women and men in the project, and awareness of the importance şişli escort of ensuring sustainability.

A meeting was held between the PASS Foundation - Peace  for Sustainble Societies and the TG consultant Company for Institutional Development, where TG reviewed the results of the local assessment, after several participatory workshops and discussion meetings between the consulting company and the departments of the PASS Foundation during the previous period to establish policies, mechanisms, sex shop regulations and models that all departments work to serve the agenda. Women began to work and WPS in addition to knowing the basics of increasing local capabilities, identifying priorities and training axes necessary for each administration, starting local strengthening of developing plans, mechanisms and technology models during the coming period

PASS foundation-Peace for Sustainable Societies Participated in introductory Meeting for GRAPs Project funded by Support Yemen Fund and Chemonics, it was defined Donors and areas of work, and during the meeting also defined Partners Organizations and What is the Projects and Activates implements in the field of “Woman Peace and Security-WPS” and the meeting reviewed the project's stages in four targeted governorates. the meeting was attended by Chairwoman of the foundation Ms/ Bahia Hassan Al-sakkaf and CEO Ms/ Athar Ali MOhammed 

PASS Foundation - Peace for Sustainable Societies and the United Nations Development Program - UNDP Conducted a meeting on the Gender-Responsive plans in the targeted Police Centers. In the presence of the international expert, Ms. Etemad Matar, the national expert, Ms. Abeer Noman, the advisor to the Director of Aden Security, Mr. Abdul Salam Al-Dhali, and the Director of the Protection Department. Family and Women Police, Colonel Wazira Abdel Latif, Director of Oversight and Inspection, Brigadier General Abdel Salam Al-Qubati, Director of Information Management, Colonel Wahid Abdel Wali, and Director of Personnel Affairs, Colonel Ali Thabet, within the national plan for the women, peace and security agenda - WPS. Under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour

Ms. Bahia Hassan Al-Sakkaf, Chairwoman of PASS Foundation - Peace for Sustainable Societies, participated in a meeting to discuss the role of civil society organizations in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, organized by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in Aden. The meeting addressed the first voluntary national report on sustainable development goals 2024, as well as a presentation on the role of civil society organizations in achieving sustainable development goals. At the opening, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation for the Sector of Economic Studies and Prospects, Dr. Mohamed Al-Hawri, noted the contribution of civil society organizations in aspects of sustainable development and raising community awareness of issues related to society. Advocate the importance of civil society organizations in networking, complementarity and synergy with government and private sector efforts in achieving sustainable development goals and contributing to the use of their resources to fight poverty, hunger and access to community services to target groups. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Security and Police Services Sector, Major General/ Mohammed Musaeid Emeer, reviewed the economic and political challenges facing the country and the damage caused by the war on infrastructure and state resources and its impact on the development process, Confirmed the importance of redoubling efforts in the service of the nation and confronting challenges to the process of progress and development.

The Results Harvesting Meeting for the NOON feminist coalition`s Project "Combating Cyber Extortion Crimes" The PASS Foundation - Peace for Sustainable Societies and the NOON Feminist Coalition held a result harvesting meeting for the project "Establishing a Unit to Combat Cyber Extortion Crimes" at the Public Prosecution Office, as part of the second phase of the project "Change in Resource Allocation: Supporting Women's Rights Organizations (WORs) and Women's Networks/Collectives in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States (FCAS)" in Aden Governorate. The meeting was attended by the First Attorney General, Mr. Fawzi Ali Saif, Ms. Bahia Al-Sakkaf the chairwomen of the PASS Foundation, Ms. Ather Ali, the Chief Executive Officer - CEO of the Foundation, members of the NOON Feminist Coalition, and a number of prosecutors and judges. The project comes because of the increasing incidence of cyber extortion and fraud crimes and the high rate of victims at the national level. The session was moderated by the facilitator, Walid Saleh Al-Hamri - a trainer and consultant in the administrative and marketing fields. The participants were divided into four working groups, where each group reviewed the positives and negatives of the project, in addition to presenting the main project outputs and discussing success stories and lessons learned. The participants recommended a number of outputs, proposals, and recommendations for future projects

Afra`a Hariri The moral decline in society is increasing day by day, amid the suspicious silence of the responsible authorities, and here the family is one of the most important of these authorities. With the development of the Internet and social media, which are accessible to everyone, morals are collapsing more and more, and what exacerbates the expansion of its scope is the absence of a law specific to it. We are still demanding that the deterrent law for other crimes prevail without the electronic ones, despite its antiquity. Cyber-crime in the form of cyber extortion surrounds us, which has emerged to destroy what remains of the system of morals that we have always boasted of as a conservative society. It is the crime that makes its victims shackled with fear, confusion, and isolation, and may push them to commit other crimes, compared to those crimes that are not related to the World Wide Web, especially in light of the openness that society is witnessing towards electronics, even in the presence of a weak and intermittent Internet network compared to networks at the regional and global level. The development of modern technology and the dissemination of personal data are the most important factors for falling into the trap of extortion, at a time when the lack of supervision exacerbates the problem, and matters become more complex when girls become the most vulnerable easy victims to such complex crimes. This reality, which is hidden from for the sake of the hour and honor, requires more talk and chatter about it, as well as the publication of protection methods and strengthening society on the one hand, and on the other hand, tightening penalties, by issuing legislation or a law urgently, such as a (presidential decree with the force of law) without waiting for the House of Representatives, which has be behind the time , and reality confirms that ignorance of the use of modern technology has The proverb "turned from a blessing into a curse and there are many risks due to rushing behind unreliable links such as dating sites and letters or video games and winning prizes, and applying for jobs of unknown source and obtaining donations from international hacking links. Out of fear of scandal in our conservative societies, most of those who are subjected to extortion and threats do not seek help (because they may be exposed and victimized twice) - once by the extortionist and once by those who play the role of helper or savior, and then again by those who take charge of the investigation. They prefer to try to overcome this problem alone, which in turn leads to cases of suicide, self-harm, or severe psychological disorders in many cases. Add to this the great calamity that the Yemeni legislator stopped at the year 1994 in the Penal Code and Crime Law, and neither the judicial nor the security authorities took the initiative to object or even express that society needs protection compared to the development of crime outside the virtual world, as it did not explicitly provide for a clear punishment for the crime of electronic extortion and left the outdated and dilapidated Penal Code to deal with the defendant. If we want to define the crime of electronic extortion in the way that society understands it, it is the unauthorized access through one of the social media networks or the private means of communication of a person to threaten or extort him, in order to compel him to perform a certain act or refrain from it, even if performing this act or refraining from it is legitimate. Whereas the person in Sharia is respected in his self, money, honor, mind and religion, and these five are what is called the purposes of Islamic Sharia, and extortion in fact and reality constitutes a usurpation of human freedom in one of those five purposes, and constitutes a danger that threatens the security of the human being in his reputation, honor or himself and body, and all of that is prohibited by Sharia. Therefore, extortion is considered a moral crime, a deviant behavior, and a meanness of the soul, before it is a crime prohibited by Sharia.