UAE welcomes EU Council’s sanctioning of Houthi militias

ABU DHABI, TGO: The United Arab Emirates has welcomed the decision by the Council of the European Union to amend Regulation (EU) No 1352/2014, thereby adopting the arms embargo adopted by the United Nations (UN), which all UN Member States are required to implement under the UN Charter.

The European Council decision cites the text of the UN Security Council resolution 2624 (2022) describing the Houthis repeated attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Yemen, commission of sexual violence against women, military recruitment of children, and incitement of violence on the basis of religion and nationality. The reasons for listing also include the Houthi militias’ attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea using waterborne improvised explosive devices and sea mines, as well as cross-border terrorist attacks striking civilians and civilian infrastructure in the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The prohibition to provide arms to the Houthis as a group is now binding on all the EU’s territory, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2624 (2022).

The European Council’s amended regulation follows the recent adoption of the UN Security Council resolution that renews the sanctions regime on Yemen and labels the Houthi militias as a “terrorist group” for the first time.

Extending from its multilateral efforts to end the war in Yemen and alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people, the UAE continues to urge the international community to take a firm stance on the designation of the Houthi militias as a terrorist group and to disrupt the flow of arms and financial support. The UAE also encourages States to exercise more vigilance over their exports of dual use items that are being used in weapons systems by the Houthis to attack civilian targets, as documented in UN reports on Yemen sanctions.

Furthermore, the UAE affirms that the only solution to bring an end to this crisis is to join efforts to reach a political solution under the auspices of the United Nations with Yemeni stakeholders in accordance with the Gulf Initiative, the results of the National Dialogue Conference, and relevant UN resolutions.