ADEN, Yemen — On January 1, 2025, faculty members from the universities of Aden, Lahij, Abyan, and Shabwa staged a protest outside the United Nations office in Aden, the temporary capital of Yemen. This demonstration is part of a series of escalating actions initiated by the professors' union, which began a strike on December 28.

During the protest, participants, joined by members of labor unions and contractors’ associations, displayed banners condemning the deteriorating living conditions and the ongoing neglect of government obligations to employees, including university faculty.

The demonstrators called on the internationally recognized government to address their declining economic situation and ensure their fundamental rights, demanding regular monthly salary payments, urgent disbursement of overdue wages, and restructuring of salaries to align with the value of the U.S. dollar, similar to conditions before 2015. They also urged the government to tackle the currency collapse and the decline in essential services.

Additionally, the faculty members urged the government to fulfill its commitments to academic staff and employees, including job regularizations, rights for newly appointed academics, and administrative contractors. They requested expedited allocation of land designated for them in the areas of Usal and Amran, and called for measures to protect university campus land from encroachments.

The faculty union declared an all-out strike on December 28 in response to worsening living conditions for academics and administrative staff and the government’s disregard for their legitimate demands, which include overdue salary payments and a warning of further escalatory actions.

In their statement, the union noted that the strike followed a one-month deadline granted to the Yemeni government to meet the academics' demands, affirming their resolve to pursue these rights aggressively. The statement highlighted that the living conditions for educators and their families had become unbearable amid the country’s economic turmoil and emphasized the urgent need for solidarity and decisive action to reclaim their rights.