Local Editor
Three human rights groups called on the warring Yemeni parties to address rights concerns in the UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden.
Participants to the Yemen talks in Sweden should prioritize key human rights issues, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Mwatana Organization for Human Rights said Thursday.
“The issues should include removing impediments to the free flow of humanitarian aid and vital commercial goods such as food and fuel, the fate of detainees, and ending attacks on civilians and civilian objects,” said the organizations. “Talks should also address how best to ensure justice, truth, and reparation for victims of war crimes.”
Acting Emergencies director at Human Rights Watch Priyanka Motaparthy said, “While the warring parties may narrowly focus on their strategic interests, concerned governments should press them to ensure that these talks also take into account the need to protect millions of Yemeni civilians.”
“Parties can agree to very specific steps, implemented immediately, that are necessary to save Yemeni lives. Releasing the arbitrarily detained, opening the airport, and ensuring commercial shippers free access to the port, are necessary steps to support the civilian population,” said Radhiya al-Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights.
The groups added that talks should also allow for criminal investigations and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecutions of all those suspected of crimes under international law.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Lynn Maalouf said, “While many politicians have tried to say justice, truth, and reparation should not be an issue in these discussions, Yemenis deserve justice for the harm they have suffered.”
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
