We Need to Reclaim UN's Radical Vision in Yemen

Rasa - That people are dying daily from the US-backed, Saudi-led attack in Yemen’s Hodeidah, while the illegal blockade of the port city that continues apace is an affront to the very idea of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights that every nation has the right to peace and an adequate standard of living.

News ID: 438302

Date: 18 June 2018 - 23:50

RNA - Sadly, the UN is yet to deliver on its own Declaration and the world needs to reclaim it. Earlier this week, a Swedish call at the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire in Hodeidah was derailed during a closed session. The US and Britain both expressed opposition to the measure, designed to prevent the Saudi-led forces attacking the port responsible for feeding 8.4 million civilians.

This is indeed a failure by the UN to stop the attack and demand an end to Western military support for the Saudi-led coalition – even France has now joined the coalition. It has exacerbated hunger in an impoverished and war-torn nation already on the brink of famine. The lack of humanitarian assistance, following suspension of aid programs and with limited NGO staff on the ground while a military offensive is ongoing, has equally had severe consequences on a city already facing restrictions on the import and internal transportation of vital supplies, including medicines, food, and fuel.

Since the fighting started on Friday, thousands of Hodeidah's 600,000 civilians have evacuated and hundreds of people have been killed. The port city is the main conduit through which about 70 percent of international aid reaches Yemenis, many of whom are battling starvation and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council's office in Yemen, "Humanitarian agencies cannot currently access any areas South of the city where people are most likely to have been injured, affected, and displaced, leaving us without a clear picture of needs.” The lack of humanitarian assistance, following suspension of aid programs and with limited NGO staff on the ground while a military offensive, is still ongoing. It flies in the face of international humanitarian law.

There is indeed a simple explanation as to why the US and UK blocked the UN Security Council resolution that would have called on coalition forces - which are being led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - to immediately implement a ceasefire due to mounting fears that if the coalition takes control of Hodeidah, the majority of Yemenis will be cut off from humanitarian assistance:

Much to the dismay of the neoliberal establishment in the West, both the US and UK are complicit in the ongoing Saudi-Emirati attacks - who are largely dependent on American weapons, intelligence and logistical support - not just in Hodeidah but across the whole country.

This only suggests one thing. The attack is a sign that the US and UK are allowing allies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE to drive their illicit policy decisions in Yemen and elsewhere in the region. Those who believe that this offensive will bring the Ansarullah resistance movement (Houthis) to the negotiating table are living in a fantasyland. It didn't happen after more than three years and it won’t happen now.

It is past time for the US and the UK governments, therefore, to immediately disclose the full extent of their military roles in the Saudi-led war, including the use of special operations forces, disclose any role that they are currently performing in Hodeidah, have been asked to perform, or are considering performing, and issue a public declaration opposing this assault and restating their positions to Saudi Arabia and other parties to the conflict. They should accept an immediate ceasefire and move toward a political settlement to resolve the Saudi-imposed conflict.

They should also drop the idea altogether that this is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s not. As maintained by Ansarullah leaders, Iran hasn’t dispatched even one single soldier to Yemen to fight the Saudis. The Yemenis have what it takes to defend themselves. They don’t need outside help – unlike the Saudis and the Emiratis.

According to Fars News Agancy, it is also high time for the UN to continue to push for international action to stop the fighting and resurrect its vision for achieving Article 25. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the most translated and celebrated documents in the world, but relatively few people are aware of the significance of its 25th Article, which proclaims the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living - including food, housing, healthcare, social services and basic financial security.

The UN should reclaim its radical vision of Yemen war and hold to account the US and UK governments for their farcical, ephemeral and unreliable diplomacy, for selling arms to the Saudis and the Emiratis, and for supporting the unjustified war against the poorest country in the Arab world. They should be held to account for persistently rejecting the idea that “economic and social rights to freedom and self-determination are full-fledged human rights in Yemen.”

To be sure, the Universal Declaration can and should form a binding customary international law, laying out a value-based framework that can be used to exert moral pressure on the Saudi-UAE governments who violate its articles in Yemen. Pressure should be exerted on these regimes to live up to their international obligations and commitments, and to adapt their behavior in line with the Declaration’s requirements. Many lives will be saved in Hodeidah if this concerted action is taken by the international community.

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