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NEW YORK: The United Nations has on Thursday rejected accusations by Yemen's Houthi authorities that UN staff were involved in espionage, calling the claims "extremely disturbing" and warning they put lives at risk.

“We categorically reject any and all accusations that UN personnel or UN operations in Yemen were involved in any form of espionage or in any activities that were not consistent with our humanitarian mandate,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Accusations, calling UN staff spies or, as we’ve seen in other contexts, calling them terrorists — all that does is it puts the lives of UN staff everywhere at risk, and it's unacceptable.”

Dujarric's comments came in response to a wave of detentions by Houthi authorities targeting UN and NGO workers in Yemen. At least 53 UN staff members remain arbitrarily detained, some held incommunicado for years, according to the UN.

The Houthi rebels have in recent weeks accused the UN of spying for the United States and Israel, exhibiting political bias, and failing to condemn Israeli military actions. These allegations emerged after an Israeli airstrike in September killed several senior Houthi officials in Sanaa.

Following the strike, Houthi officials claimed that some of the detained UN employees were engaged in espionage, and that diplomatic immunity “should not be a cover” for such activities.

In a statement from its Houthi-run foreign ministry, the group claimed the UN’s silence on the Israeli attack demonstrated “double standards” and alleged complicity.

Dujarric pushed back strongly against those narratives, insisting the UN’s presence in Yemen was solely humanitarian. “The work that we do in Yemen and we do everywhere where we do humanitarian work is guided by our basic principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence,” he said. “The reason our humanitarian colleagues are in Yemen is to help the Yemeni people.”

The UN has repeatedly condemned the detentions and raids on its premises in Houthi-held areas, and Secretary-General Guterres has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all UN personnel, NGO workers, and detained diplomatic staff. Human Rights Watch has also criticized the arrests, stating that no credible evidence has been presented to support the espionage allegations, and warning that such actions are obstructing critical aid operations in the war-torn country.

The Houthis’ accusations have drawn wider scrutiny of their treatment of aid workers and engagement with international agencies. In September, they accused UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg of “political complicity” for condemning the detentions while allegedly ignoring what they termed Israeli “aggression” in Yemen.

Despite the criticism, the UN maintains that its operations remain grounded in neutrality. “We will continue to call for the end to the arbitrary detention of our colleagues,” Dujarric said. “They need to be released, alongside the NGO workers and those from diplomatic missions.”

Yemen’s conflict, which escalated in 2015 after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. UN-led efforts to broker peace have repeatedly stalled amid growing regional instability.

TUNIS: Six aid workers from a group that helps migrants and refugees went on trial in Tunisia Thursday accused of assisting irregular migration into the country, a key transit point for those seeking to reach Europe.
The accused work for the Tunisian Refugee Council (TRC), an aid organization that partnered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to screen asylum applications in Tunisia.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, which saw a series of racially motivated attacks after President Kais Saied warned in 2023 that “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
Tunisian and international rights groups condemned the trial, saying it criminalized helping refugees and migrants.
The defendants include TRC head Mustapha Djemali, an 81-year-old Tunisian-Swiss national, and project manager Abderrazek Krimi, both of whom have been detained for more than a year and a half pending trial.
Four other employees were charged in the case but have not been held in custody.
They are all charged with “sheltering” migrants and “facilitating illegal entry” into Tunisia, according to a lawyer.
The defense team requested the trial be postponed and that a testimony from the UNHCR be heard, lawyer Mounira Ayari told AFP.
She said the defense also requested a provisional release for Djemali and Krimi, as their pre-trial detention had already exceeded the 14-month legal limit.
But the court later rejected that request and adjourned the trial until November 24, the lawyer added.
She said Djemali “suffers from serious health issues.”
His daughter, Yusra, said he could barely stand, adding: “It’s hard to see him like this.”
The family said initial fraud and money-laundering charges against Djemali had been dropped.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including members of French group Terre d’Asile and anti-racist organization Mnemty, who are awaiting trial.
Djemali and Krimi “were arrested solely for their legitimate humanitarian work,” said Antonia Mulvey, who heads the Geneva-based Legal Action Worldwide.
She called the trial “arbitrary” and a “violation of Tunisia’s international obligations.”