Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that a leaked United Nations report contradicts Britain’s rationale for selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, pointing out that it says the Saudis violated international humanitarian law.
David Mepham, the U.K. Director of Human Rights Watch, said the report’s findings "flatly contradict repeated statements made by British ministers about the actions of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen."
"For almost a year, (Foreign Secretary Philip) Hammond has made the false and misleading claim that there is no evidence of laws of war violations by the U.K.’s Saudi ally and other members of the coalition," he said. Hammond made the comments to lawmakers in the House of Commons this month.
Mepham added that the report shows the violations are frequent and widespread, including attacks on medical facilities, schools, mosques and populated residential areas. He urged the British government to halt the transfer of any military equipment to Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies that might be used for such violations.
The United States has been Saudi Arabia’s main arms supplier, selling it $1.3 billion worth of munitions alone at the end of last year when Riyadh was running low due to the Yemen war. Britain, France and others have all taken part in the bonanza over the years, selling the kingdom billions of dollars’ worth of arms, some during the fighting in Yemen.
The U.N. report, obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, was made by panel of U.N. experts who monitor U.N. sanctions, and had not been released publicly.
In March 2015, a coalition of mainly Gulf Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia began launching airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement, later expanding the intervention to include a ground invasion. More than 5,800 people have been killed and over 80 percent of Yemen’s population is in dire need of food, water and other aid, according to the U.N.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
