Local Editor
Addressing the UNHRC during its 36th session, ACI and the Euro-Mediterranean for Human Rights Monitor drew the Council’s attention to some of the serious violations that Yemenis are subjected to in the ongoing conflict, where various parties are committing war crimes.
“The Saudi-led coalition has not taken into account the principles of discrimination and proportionality in five air strikes carried out in Yemen in the past two months alone, killing 39 civilians, including 26 children,” said Mahmoud Jawad, Euro-Med Monitor’s Operations Adviser.
These airstrikes carried out by the Arab Coalition for two years, often targeted civilian areas, the two organizations stated, noting that during 2016, 60% of child victims were killed or wounded by airstrikes carried out by the Arab Coalition.
The Saudi-led Coalition has repeatedly failed to independently investigate violations of the laws of war in Yemen, in addition to preventing human rights organizations from reaching Houthi-controlled areas, thus undermining HRC's efforts to establish a fact-finding commission, added Jawad.
Euro-Med Monitor and ACI concluded by calling on the Human Rights Council to react seriously to the ongoing violations in Yemen, accelerate sending an independent investigation commission into violations and to urge the Security Council to submit the profile of the ongoing violations in Yemen to the International Criminal Court.
Saudi Arabia has been leading a destructive military campaign against Yemen since March 2015 to reinstate former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and crush the Houthi movement.
The campaign has seriously damaged the country’s infrastructure. In its tallies released in February, Yemen’s Legal Center for Rights and Development said the Saudi war had killed over 12,000 civilians, including 2,568 kids.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
