Yemen's indomitable Houthi corruption and mismanagement

Houthi violations of agreements with the UN have become common practice for the Iranian-backed rebels. The recruitment of children for their armed forces, indiscriminate attacks on civilian gatherings, arbitrary abductions, torture, disappearances and the diversion of billions of Yemeni rials have been, and continue to be, the recurrent practices of the Houthis during the last few years of Yemen's civil war. This has been exposed by the UN Panel of Experts and reported by the news portal Arab News. 

The annual report of the UN Security Council has published that, from the truce negotiated by the UN on 2 April until 30 November, the Houthi leaders have been benefiting from the diversion of funds from taxes and customs payments in the territories under their administration in Yemen. This is evidenced by figures from the oil port of Hodeidah, which generated more than 271.935 billion Yemeni rials ($271 million), which was appropriated by Shia militia leaders to fund military activities, in violation of the agreement with the UN.

"According to the Stockholm Agreement, the Houthis were to collect customs duties on the import of oil through the port of Hodeidah on condition that they pay public service salaries. However, the panel was informed that no salaries had been paid at the time of writing," the UN experts publish.  

The published report also denounces the imposition by the Houthis of a tax known as khums, which provides for the payment of one-fifth of taxes on the mineral, water and fishing industries and other economic activities. A benefit that would go directly to Houthi families and allied leaders. 

However, this is not the first time the rebel militia has been accused of embezzling funds. At the beginning of 2021, the same group of UN experts denounced the diversion by the Houthis of almost 1.5 billion dollars of state funds to finance the war. 

In addition to embezzlement, the Houthis are using more political manoeuvres to finance their military activities: "The Houthis are also using several telecommunications companies to send millions of messages soliciting support and financial contributions for their war efforts," the report says, citing smuggling and drug trade to finance the war. Substances seized by the Saudi authorities - a backer of the internationally recognised Yemeni government - were reported to the UN's own panel of experts. 

Another of the rebel group's violations with the UN is related to the recruitment of children for its armed forces. For the second year in a row, the report denounced that hundreds of children, mostly between 13 and 17 years old, were forced to join the Houthi summer camps where they are indoctrinated and trained as fighters through financial incentives or intimidation. Contrary, as the militia is wont to do, to the action plan signed with the UN in April 2022 to prevent and end recruitment and other violations against children. 

For its part, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Houthis' main backer, has continued to send arms, drones and ballistic missile components, many of them seized in the Gulf of Oman. This destabilisation of the Ayatollahs' regime as a regional actor adds to the already corrupt action of the Houthi rebels in the country, which, far from improving the situation, is impoverishing the population and making it more difficult to obtain food in a Yemen that is dragging on a civil war that is already claiming to be the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.