Local Editor
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an international investigation into alleged violations of the laws-of-war in Yemen, and an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia, as well as returning the Riyadh-led coalition to the UN secretary-general’s “list of shame” for abuses against children in armed conflict.
The call comes after the rights group recorded a Saudi-led coalition airstrike near a school in northern Yemen on January 10, 2017 that killed two students and a school administrator and wounded three children.
“The bombing death of an 11-year-old girl on her way to school shows how little the Saudi-led coalition took to heart its brief inclusion on the UN secretary-general’s ‘list of shame,’” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
The January 10 coalition airstrike targeted a makeshift gas station in the village of Bani Mea’asar, in Yemen’s Sanaa governorate, killing three civilians and wounding five others. Students were getting ready to depart for school when the strike took place.
Last June, then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon included the Saudi-led coalition on his annual “list of shame” for grave violations against children during armed conflict. A few days after the report was published, Saudi Arabia and its allies issued threats to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to the UN. In response Ban announced he was removing the Saudi-led coalition from the list “pending the conclusion of [a] joint review,” publicly admitting these financial threats influenced his decision.
“Yemeni children have been among those paying the heaviest price during this nearly two-year-long war,” Whitson said. “How many more schoolchildren need to die and be maimed before the UN responds?”
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
