Accra:The National Human Rights Commission has strongly condemned the decision by "Facebook and X" platform administrations to ban and close numerous Yemeni pages and accounts. These accounts belong to media institutions, journalists, and human rights figures who oppose the Saudi military actions in Yemen.
According to Yemen News Agency, the Commission issued a statement highlighting the discrepancy between the promoted notion of 'freedom of expression' by Western digital platforms and their recent actions. It argued that these platforms, often described as 'the public square of humanity,' are instead being used selectively to control narratives, particularly those challenging the American-Zionist-Saudi perspective.
The Commission emphasized that the silencing of these accounts is an attempt to suppress truth and awareness. It noted that the Yemeni people, resilient under conflict, will not be subdued by digital bans. The statement further criticized the timing of these actions, as they coincide with escalated Saudi military activities in regions such as Taiz, Nahm, Saada, Sanaa, and Ibb, framing the issue as a narrative war beyond physical conflict.
The Commission declared that the campaign to silence Yemeni voices has already faced resistance, with the Yemeni people's awareness undermining the platforms' credibility. It labeled the bans as violations of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, accusing the platforms of digital discrimination and double standards.
The statement called upon the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to denounce these actions as technical complicity in war crimes. It urged Yemeni media and human rights activists to pursue "decentralized media" strategies to resist reliance on politically influenced platforms, asserting that free expression is a form of resistance against aggression.
