Local Editor
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince has requested a meeting with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations said Friday.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to discuss the controversy involving a Saudi-led coalition being placed on, and then removed, from a blacklist over the killing and injuring of about 1,200 children in the conflict in Yemen last year.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Friday confirmed the request without providing further details.
Last week, Ban said he temporarily removed the U.S.-backed coalition from the blacklist for violating child rights pending a joint review of cases because its supporters threatened to stop funding many U.N. programs. Ban said he stands by the report, which he said "describes horrors no child should have to face."
The report which led to the blacklisting said the U.N. verified a total of 1,953 youngsters killed and injured in Yemen in 2015 - a six-fold increase compared with 2014 - and it attributed about 60 percent of those casualties to the coalition. The U.N. said it also verified 101 attacks on schools and hospitals last year, double the number in 2014, of which 48 percent were attributed to the coalition.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
