UN bodies call for Houthis to immediately release two staff members in Yemen

Unesco and UN Human Rights office 'deeply concerned' after staff were taken six months ago

The detained UN staff had worked at the US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo / Abdulsalam Sharhan)

The UN's cultural body is calling for the "immediate" release of two of its staff members who were detained by Yemen's Houthis six months ago.

Unesco's director general Audrey Azoulay and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet have issued a statement calling for their release during Eid.

The staff members, who have not been identified, worked at the US embassy and were detained in the capital, Sanaa.

The two Yemeni men, understood to have been working in the UN’s cultural and human rights divisions, were taken into detention separately on November 5 and 7 and have been held without access to their families or colleagues.

"As families across Yemen gather to mark Eid al-Fitr this year, Ms Azoulay and Ms Bachelet urge the immediate release of two of their staff members who have been detained since early November," the statement said.

"Despite repeated assurances, as early as last November, by the Houthis that the two staff members would be immediately released, their whereabouts remain unknown, and Unesco and the UN Human Rights Office are deeply concerned about their well-being.

"In this context, the UN Human Rights Office and Unesco urge the Houthis movement to ensure the well-being of the two concerned staff members and to release them without any further delay.

"Under international law, UN staff are accorded privileges and immunities, which are essential to the proper discharge of their official functions."

Last November, the US said the Houthis had detained several Yemeni employees at the US embassy compound in Sanaa, without disclosing how many.

The embassy has been closed since 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa in late 2014. The mission has since operated out of Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have controlled Sanaa and much of northern Yemen for seven years, frequently drawing criticism from the UN, western and Gulf nations, and aid agencies operating in the region's poorest nations.