How Yemen votes at the UN

Who speaks for Yemen at the UN, and how does it vote?

The Houthis (Ansar Allah) have held Sanaa since September 2014 and control much of the north. The internationally recognized government holds Yemen's UN seat. Rashad al-Alimi has chaired the Presidential Leadership Council since April 2022. The UN ambassador is Abdullah Al-Saadi, appointed in 2018.

In 2025 Yemen agreed on 99% of recorded votes with Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Somalia and Syria, and on 98% with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Egypt. The average member agreed with China on 87% and with the United States on 14%.

The 2022 truce between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition has collapsed. Al-Alimi told the Assembly in September 2025 that the Houthis use "maritime passages as a means of blackmail." Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in February 2024 the group would "seek to escalate more and more if the barbaric and brutal aggression against Gaza does not stop." US and UK forces began striking Houthi-held areas in January 2024. A US-Houthi ceasefire, announced by Oman, followed in May 2025. An Israeli strike on Sanaa in August 2025 killed the Houthis' prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi. Since October 2026 the Houthis have struck Saudi airports. Attacks on the airports in Abha and Riyadh killed three people earlier in the week, and an attack on Riyadh's airport on October 10 killed 12, according to Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority. The Houthis hold 72 UN staff (Human Rights Watch, October 6, 2026).

Shaya al-Zindani, the foreign minister, was named prime minister of the recognized government in January 2026.

How does Yemen vote on human rights in Iran?

No explanation of vote from Yemen on the resolution on human rights in Iran has been found, but its government accuses Iran of arming the Houthis. Yemen voted yes every year from 2019 to 2025. In 2019 Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Djibouti also voted yes. By 2023 they had all abstained. In 2024 Yemen was the only Arab League member to vote yes. In 2025 Yemen and Morocco were the only Arab League members to vote yes. The 2025 resolution passed 78 votes to 27, with 64 abstentions.

Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, a vice-president of the Presidential Leadership Council, told the Assembly in September 2026 that the war "could not have continued for so long" without "Iranian military support for the Houthis." Iran says it supports the Houthis diplomatically and politically but denies providing military aid, as Al Jazeera reported in 2019. In January 2025, Iran's UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani called claims in a UN Panel of Experts report that Iran trained and aided the Houthis "groundless." Iran's foreign ministry spokesman called the 2022 resolution "hypocritical and devoid of legitimacy." Across all recorded votes in 2025, Yemen agreed with Iran on 95%.

How does Yemen vote on Ukraine and Gaza?

Yemen votes with the Arab Group on every Palestine text. Yemen chaired the Arab Group, the UN caucus of Arab states, in June 2025 and, with Cameroon for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, asked for the Assembly's emergency special session on Palestine and Gaza to resume. At the June 12, 2025 vote, Yemen's delegate spoke for the Arab Group and urged the Assembly to act as the "living conscience of the United Nations," according to the UN's summary. Yemen voted yes on the New York Declaration on a two-state solution. In 1947 Yemen was one of 13 states that voted against the partition of Palestine.

On Ukraine, Yemen voted yes on the March 2022 resolution condemning Russia's aggression and abstained on the April 2022 vote to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council and on the February 2025 resolution on peace in Ukraine. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman also abstained on the suspension vote and the February 2025 resolution. No explanation of vote has been found from Yemen.