Amman, Jordan – Yemeni civil society needs to redouble efforts in addressing the thorny question of transitional justice before a formal peace process is finally launched, experts concluded at the third Yemen International Forum (YIF) on Monday.
“It’s no longer just individuals who have been forcibly disappeared, but the country as a whole. Yemen and Yemenis are subject to cycles of violence, hateful rhetoric, incitement, sectarian and geographic discrimination,” said Assistant Secretary-General of the Nasserite Party and Deputy Head of Consultation and Reconciliation Commission Rana Ghanem during the afternoon plenary session on the second day of the YIF.
“I don’t think we can wait for peace. There are a lot of forms of justice that can take place before Yemen is at peace,” added Yemen Researcher at Human Rights Watch Niku Jafarnia, arguing for immediate action from local and international actors to look into reparations before even more cases accumulate.
Judge Hala Al-Qurashi, a founding member of the Association of Families of the Disappeared, shared the sentiment of thousands of Yemeni families as she spoke of her father, whose fate remains unknown. “At a minimum, families deserve to know the truth of their disappeared relatives,” she said. “When it comes to accountability, I can forgive as long as there is a transition to a civil society with genuine reforms.”
A shaky ceasefire has been held since 2022 after Saudi-led forces launched a war in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government following a coup by the Houthi movement in north Yemen. Saudi talks with the Houthis on normalizing ties and launching a Yemeni peace process have stalled due to the Gaza crisis.
Sergio Jaramillo Caro, former High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia, told Yemenis that pushing for accountability and victims’ rights before any hostilities cessation would provide the best chance for long-term justice. “In Colombia, we had a very long war; it lasted over 50 years and produced millions of victims – 8 million internally displaced, half a million dead. We thought it would never end, but it is possible,” Caro said, noting that a country’s population must take control of its own peace process.
International interest in Yemen has shifted focus toward security concerns after more than a year of Houthi missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel in support of Palestinians. A newly introduced Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for the Houthis and the Houthi arrest of dozens of civil society workers have threatened Yemen’s aid environment, making it even more difficult for groups to operate in the country – a topic that was key in the day’s opening plenary session on shifting aid policies.
“We have concluded that at the moment in the north, all we can deliver is life-sustaining support,” said Charles Harper, Development Director and Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Aden, pointing to donor fatigue and the shifting political landscape in the region.
Iman Shankiti, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, said one silver lining was the resilience of the local private sector in Yemen. Mazen Aman, Senior Advisor at the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, noted that “the private sector is still responsible for bringing in 90 percent of all food in the country. Even in the best scenarios, international organizations could only bring in 10-12 percent of the food required in the country.”
But Yemen faces crushing economic problems due in part to a Houthi blockade of oil exports, imposed since late 2022, which has led to extreme electricity cuts and further loss of confidence in the politically divided government. A recent power shortage in Aden led to angry street protests.
At one session held under Chatham House rule, it was clear that the various stakeholders—the internationally recognized government, Houthi authorities, and political groups—are still set on making maximum demands for resources to the disadvantage of the others.
One expert at the session pointed out that Yemen still lacks a formal regulatory framework, including a petroleum law. He said that international energy firms are disinclined to invest in Yemen without legal clarity, stability, and security.
Another speaker said that while current oil capacity is down to only 30,000 barrels per day, gas has the potential for 100,000 barrels per day—but it will need heavy investment to make it happen.
In another energy session, an audience member complained that access to electricity was being used as a political tool in Aden, with communities seeing power cuts as a form of punishment. The coming year looked especially bleak, and the attendee said, “We need to discuss not having energy in 2025.”
The third Yemen International Forum is organized by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, an independent think tank focused on Yemen. Its goal is to unite Yemeni and international civil and political actors to create a pathway toward a peaceful, prosperous, and just Yemen and overcome the country’s ongoing crisis. Since its launch in 2022, the YIF has convened over 500 political representatives, policymakers, peace mediators, experts, and civil society representatives, contributing to multi-thematic peace initiatives, ranging from political and civic engagement to transitional justice, economic de-escalation and addressing environment-conflict nexus. The YIF is the largest international annual conference bringing together Yemeni actors to engage in constructive dialogue on Yemen’s future.