Local Editor
In its World Report 2017, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that the laws of war have been violated with impunity in 2016.
The HRW called on concerned governments to seek accountability for past and ongoing violations and immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
According to the international organization, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition has carried out military operations, supported by the United States and United Kingdom, against Houthi forces and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 2015. The coalition has unlawfully attacked homes, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses, and mosques. As of October 10, 2016, at least 4,125 civilians had been killed and 6,711 wounded, the majority by coalition airstrikes, according to the United Nations human rights office.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW, said “UN members need to press the parties to end the slaughter and the suffering of civilians.”
In the 687-page World Report, its 27th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth writes that a new generation of authoritarian populists seeks to overturn the concept of human rights protections, treating rights as an impediment to the majority will. For those who feel left behind by the global economy and increasingly fear violent crime, civil society groups, the media, and the public have key roles to play in reaffirming the values on which rights-respecting democracy has been built.
Human Rights Watch has documented 61 apparently unlawful Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, some of which may amount to war crimes. The coalition has also used internationally banned cluster munitions. Neither the US nor the UK have suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite increasing evidence of their use in the conflict and the coalition’s failure to credibly investigate alleged violations. In 2015, the US approved more than US$20 billion worth of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, and the UK approved arms sales worth $4 billion.
HRW added that there was credibly investigation on the alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen. The coalition-appointed Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) released findings that differed drastically from those of the UN and others. The US, a party to the conflict by providing targeting intelligence and in-air refueling for coalition attacks, is not known to have investigated any alleged unlawful strikes in which its forces may have taken part.
As of November, the US reported it had conducted 28 drone strikes in Yemen in 2016, killing dozens of people described as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operatives. Both AQAP and armed groups linked to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for numerous suicide and other bombings that have unlawfully killed dozens.
The rights group also reported that critical relief supplies have been blocked or restricted from reaching civilians, deepening the country’s crisis. The coalition has imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen, limiting the importation of vital goods.
Source: Human Rights Watch, Edited by Website Team
