The Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen (OSESGY, Martin Griffiths, announced on Friday that The Supervisory Committee on the implementation of the Prisoner Exchange Agreement, comprised of representatives of the Government of Yemen and Houthi group (Ansar Allah), and co-chaired, will continue its work.
In a statement published on the website of the Office of the UN Envoy, the Committee decided to keep its meeting held in Amman, Jordan since last Tuesday under the joint chairmanship of the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross in an open meeting to allow the parties to continue to work together to improve The level and quality of information , to enable the expected finalization of the lists in the near future.
The statement by the Office of the UN Envoy said that the parties have expressed their commitment to release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons, detainees arbitrarily and forcibly detained and subject to house arrest through phased implementation. He pointed out that the two parties renewed their readiness to exert all efforts to achieve this common goal, in light of the need to accelerate the reunification of detainees with their families.
"The two parties remain committed to the release of all prisoners and detainees, missing persons, arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared persons, and those under house arrest, based on a phased implementation. They furthermore have reaffirmed their readiness to do their utmost to achieve this shared objective, recognizing the urgent need to reunite detainees with their families.", the statement read.
The statement confirmed that The Sub-Committee on Dead Bodies and Human Remains held its first set of meetings and agreed to a joint plan of action based on specific principles and a timeline to complete the exchange of bodies.
The Office of the UN Envoy to Yemen stressed that OSESGY and ICRC will continue to support the parties’ efforts in implementing the agreement, including by providing technical assistance.
The second meeting of the supervisory committee to follow up the implementation of the prisoners' agreement in accordance with the Stockholm agreement, began last Tuesday in the presence of UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, who announced that the meeting would last for only three days, but the Committee reached on Friday to s final agreement on the exchange of prisoners, which was scheduled to be implemented by the end of January.
Yemen has been racked by an armed conflict that broke out after the Houthi rebels had ousted the internationally recognized government late in 2014.
The conflict escalated after a Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in the country in March 2015 to reinstate the government of President Hadi, leaving tens of thousands killed, hundreds of thousands injured, and 3 million displaced.
The war has also pushed the country to the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.
The two sides reached this agreement during peace consultations held in Sweden led by the United Nations last December, but the agreement has been stalled so far.
The Yemeni warring parties have traded blames for hindering the deal that would have seen more than 16,000 prisoners exchanged by the end of last January.
