Local Editor
The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday declined to set up an independent inquiry into abuses in Yemen, instead calling on a national inquiry to investigate by violations by all sides, including the killing of civilians and attacks on hospitals.
The move disappointed activists, who, along with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, had called for an independent probe, especially into air strikes by a Saudi-led Arab coalition backing the Yemeni government.
The 47-member rights council adopted a resolution brought by Arab countries that asks the United Nations to provide "substantive technical assistance and advice, including in the areas of accountability and legal support".
This should enable the Yemeni probe to "complete its investigatory work concerning allegations of violations and abuses committed by all relevant parties in Yemen".
Senior U.N. officials had seen the Yemeni issue as a test of the council’s credibility after it also backed away a year ago from launching an independent inquiry.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said last month that the national probe lacked impartiality as it focused on alleged violations committed by Houthi revolutionaries and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and had not worked in pursuing perpetrators.
His deputy, Kate Gilmore, urged the rights council to launch an independent inquiry, saying the Yemeni inquiry "will fail to contribute to the direly needed cohesion and stability, and to promote justice and accountability".
The European Union withdrew a stronger Dutch-led text hours before the Arab resolution was adopted by consensus. Britain, an ally of Saudi Arabia, had blocked the Dutch-sponsored draft within the EU, a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity.
The Dutch resolution would have sent a U.N. fact-finding mission to Yemen to report back on violations in March 2017.
The EU delegation said the amended Arab resolution was a "reasonable compromise text and the European Union could support the resolution".
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
