peace process

Main Publications August 4, 2025 08:01 MIN Yemen International Forum 2025 Report The third Yemen International Forum (YIF III) took place in Amman from February 16 - 18, 2025, gathering more than 300 participants to discuss peace prospects and stability in Yemen. Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Yemen has been tested in myriad ways. Attacks on the Red Sea and the rising prominence of the Houthis within the “Axis of Resistance” have thrust Yemen into regional conflict, undermining hope for an end to its decade-long war. Since the last YIF held in the Hague in June 2023, where discussions centered on cautious optimism for a potential peace settlement, Yemen has undertaken a dramatic U-turn. Peace efforts have taken a backseat while international attention has increasingly turned… Continue reading News July 16, 2025 03:08 MIN Sana’a Center Visit to Colombia Focuses on Peacebuilding and Justice Bogotá, Colombia, July 6, 2025 — The Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies has concluded a week-long study tour to Colombia, exploring the country’s peace process, transitional justice system, and approaches to inclusive reconciliation. The trip gathered insights into the design of peace processes and transitional justice frameworks to help inform the Sana’a Center’s ongoing work on justice and reconciliation in Yemen. The visit, funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was carried out in partnership with Yemen’s DeepRoot Consulting and involved participation from members of the Hikma Fellowship. The study tour in Colombia was organized by Fundación Acordemos, a Bogotá-based organization founded in 2023 by members of the team behind Colombia’s historic peace agreement with the FARC. The Sana’a Center… Continue reading Analysis April 21, 2025 08:55 MIN January-March 2025 Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Yemeni Women in Diplomacy By Rim Mugahed, Hana’a Abdurabu, and Essa Al-Qadasy “Our main challenge as women in Yemen is simply the fact that we are women,” - Sahar Ghanem, Yemeni Ambassador to the Netherlands. “How can women have a strong presence [in diplomacy] when we aren’t in decision-making positions at all?” - Female Yemeni diplomat. The underrepresentation of women in Yemen’s political and public sphere existed before the war and has only worsened due to the ongoing conflict over the past decade. The Yemeni government formed as part of the Riyadh Agreement in 2020 did not include female ministers, marking the first time women had been entirely excluded from a cabinet in nearly two decades. In a context of escalating tension and polarization, this marginalization extends to all other structures, where… Continue reading Editorial April 17, 2025 03:51 MIN January-March 2025 Yemen’s Fragile Stalemate is Starting to Crack The war in Yemen has entered a new, uncertain phase. Over seven years of fighting came to a relative halt in 2022 with a UN-backed truce that cemented the stalemate on the ground. Subsequent Saudi-Houthi talks to normalize ties and launch a Yemeni-Yemeni peace process were upended by the Houthis’ response to the Gaza war, as the group began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea. Now, US President Donald Trump has returned to office guns blazing, relaunching the Biden administration’s anti-Houthi military campaign with a gusto that has raised the hopes of some parties that the rebel group could be brought to its knees. But even if Houthi power survives intact, the consequences… Continue reading Publications March 19, 2025 11:28 MIN Ten Takeaways from YIF III More than 300 participants gathered in Amman from February 16-19 to attend the highly anticipated third Yemen International Forum, the largest annual gathering focused on peace-building in Yemen. Over the course of three days, Yemeni political leaders, tribal figures, women, minorities, youth, and civil society activists, alongside regional and international actors, UN representatives, and experts, engaged in candid and, at times, difficult discussions aimed at restoring peace and stability in Yemen and preventing further escalation of conflict. The optimism for a peace settlement that characterized the first two YIF forums, held in Stockholm (2022) and the Hague (2023), had been tempered by the Red Sea crisis and Yemen’s involvement in wider regional conflict. The Forum provided the first opportunity for… Continue reading Publications February 27, 2025 18:32 MIN Recovering from Attacks on Education in Yemen By Alexander Kochenburger Education is often one of the greatest casualties of war. In Yemen, this reality is borne out by the thousands of damaged and destroyed schools, tens of thousands of child soldiers, hundreds of thousands of teachers working without regular pay, and millions of students out of school. Mere numbers, however, are not sufficient to encapsulate the true toll. A generation of Yemenis have had their right to education and hope for a better future stripped away by airstrikes and fighting, by landmines and armed groups in and around their schools, and by beleaguered teachers presiding the best they can in over-crowded classrooms. This policy brief examines the effects of Yemen’s armed conflict on the country’s education system, focusing in particular… Continue reading News February 25, 2025 01:51 MIN The Future of Peace in Yemen is Green Amman and New York—A recent report released by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies and the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic highlights the immediate need to prioritize environmental and climate concerns in Yemen's transitional justice efforts. The report – Conflict and Climate: The Need for a Roadmap for Green Transitional Justice in Yemen – is based on interviews conducted inside Yemen and a global comparative analysis of other transitional justice processes. It argues that the intersections between armed conflict, environmental degradation, and climate change cannot be ignored. “In Yemen, where many people rely on the agricultural and fisheries sectors for livelihoods amid a severe water crisis, the impact of environmental damage caused by conflict is deeply felt,” explained Yasmeen… Continue reading Main Publications February 16, 2025 11:36 MIN Yemen International Forum III Background Dossier The Yemen International Forum (YIF) is the largest and most inclusive platform for policy dialogues related to Yemen's conflict and ongoing peace process. Unique in its approach, it serves as a continuous civil society-led peace initiative, providing a space for Yemeni, regional, and international engagement aimed at overcoming current crises and paving the way to a peaceful, prosperous, and just Yemen. Since its launch in 2022, the YIF has convened over 500 political representatives, policymakers, peace mediators, experts, and civil society representatives and contributed to multi-thematic peace initiatives, ranging from political and civic engagement to transitional justice, economic deescalation, and the environment-conflict nexus. As part of the YIF, consultations with Yemeni experts and stakeholders and extensive regional and international shuttle… Continue reading Analysis February 4, 2025 05:56 MIN October-December 2024 Navigating Yemen’s Ongoing Quest for Peace: Key Challenges and Prospects for 2025 By Alexandra Nikopoulou A year of war across the Middle East has profoundly reshaped the region, shifting power dynamics and redrawing the lines of local conflicts. For Yemen, the Gaza war and its repercussions have served as an intensifier to the conflict, driving peace to a stalemate and exacerbating local divisions. The end of 2024 saw an increase in fighting on several fronts, a further escalation in Houthi-Israeli tensions, and renewed hope for a Houthi retreat within the anti-Houthi camp. International efforts toward a peace settlement continued, with the process following a familiar yet flawed approach in search of a still-elusive breakthrough. In the past three months, little has changed regarding the international community’s approach to achieving peace in Yemen. The Presidential Leadership… Continue reading Publications January 22, 2025 26:32 MIN Forgotten Victims of Yemen’s War: The Plight of the Muhammashat By Mohammed al-Harbi Members of the muhammasheen community remain among the most vulnerable victims of systemic injustice and suffering in Yemen, a situation made worse by the war. Ostracized and disparaged, the community’s women and girls (muhammashat) are particularly vulnerable. The nature of their work, which commonly entails begging, street-sweeping, and vending, brings them into public spaces, putting them at risk of exploitation, including sexual and gender-based violence. As the upheaval of war in Yemen disrupts law enforcement and customary norms, and many men from this community have either lost their jobs or joined the frontlines, reports of muhammashat experiencing harassment and sexual abuse are on the increase while perpetrators continue to act with impunity. Based on interviews with local activists, researchers, lawyers,… Continue reading News December 18, 2024 01:49 MIN Regional Workshop Discusses Red Sea Tensions Amid Houthi Attacks On December 16, two days of strategic dialogue aimed at building regional stability concluded in Amman, Jordan. The Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies partnered with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Swedish agency for peace, security, and development, to discuss persistent security risks along the Red Sea coast and the Horn of Africa. Since November 2, 2023, Houthi forces have carried out sustained attacks against Red Sea shipping. These have triggered retaliation from a US-led coalition, including airstrikes within Yemeni territory. Israel has also responded to Houthi drone and missile strikes by targeting ports and energy facilities, escalating the intensity of the conflict. These have created a series of geopolitical consequences affecting countries bordering the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and… Continue reading Analysis October 16, 2024 07:07 MIN Quarterly: July-September 2024 The Houthis’ Rise Amid the Gaza War and Red Sea Crisis: From Local Actor to Regional Force By Alexandra Nikopoulou Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) rapidly extended their support to the Palestinians, directly targeting Israel, along with Israeli and Western vessels in the Red Sea. This unprecedented crisis has bolstered the group’s regional status and resulted in the escalation of regional tensions and the emergence of a novel threat to global maritime security. Concurrently, it has provided the Houthis with added leverage at the negotiation table. The Houthis have essentially transitioned from being recognized solely as a local Yemeni actor to becoming a powerful regional player within the Iran-led Axis of Resistance. Drawing on key insights from Sana’a Center experts, this analysis follows a three-level approach to examine the impact of the Houthis’ attacks… Continue reading