World Shouldn’t Allow Saudis to Impede War Crimes Probe in Yemen

Rasa - The UN Human Rights Council is telling us what we already knew for years that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their cronies are committing war crimes in Yemen in breach of International Humanitarian Law.

News ID: 440662

Date: 23 September 2018 - 12:44

RNA - According to the UN's top human rights body, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are responsible for war crimes including rape, torture, disappearances and "deprivation of the right to life" during three and a half years of war against Yemen. In their first report for the Human Rights Council, the experts have also chronicled the damages from US-backed coalition air strikes, the single most lethal force in the fighting, over the last year.

They urge the international community to "refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict" – in a clear reference to countries like the United States and Britain that help arm the Saudi-led coalition.

Since March last year, the UN's humanitarian aid agency has called Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis - with three-fourths of its population of over 20 million in need of humanitarian assistance. The war has devastated the country's health system and provided the breeding grounds for the world's largest cholera outbreak last year.

Meaning, even getting the expert probe up and running has to be an accomplishment for the UN-backed Human Rights Council, which passed a resolution creating the team last September. Sadly, due to the objections of Saudi Arabia and its allies, the Council failed several times to authorize more intrusive investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen. The 47-member body only last fall reached a compromise to bring in the experts.

Although many people have died and the country is in ruins, it’s never too late for the UN body to do the next best thing: Introduce a resolution that calls for an end to the war and bans and forces Western countries to stop arming Saudi Arabia and its coalition members. The world body should force Britain and the US to stop backing the conflict and giving weapons to Saudi Arabia for its campaign in Yemen amid new evidence that Western bombs are being used in deliberate war crimes.

Even Amnesty International, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders agree that most of the civilian casualties are caused by deliberate airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led military coalition. Now that the UN experts and rights groups have concluded that some of the coalition strikes “may amount to war crimes,” the UN should take further steps to create no-fly zone over the war-torn country. This way the world body can stop further air strikes by Saudi Arabia and the UAE that it says are in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.

Both the UK and the US are also complicit in these crimes because they supply Saudi Arabia with munitions that are used in Yemen. They even refuel Saudi coalition warplanes midair. For instance, according to the Pentagon regime, an American laser-guided bomb was used in a Saudi strike in early August which killed 40 children.

According to Fars News Agency, in the UN report, however, experts urge the international community to “refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict in Yemen”. It notes that coalition airstrikes have hit “markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities.”

This should be more than enough for the UN Council and other human rights groups to seize on the report and call for the UK and the US to stop arming Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other members of the coalition. The coalition members are committing war crimes and yet the West continues to sell them state-of-the-art weaponry.

As for the US and UK governments, they are required under International Law to consider the UN report and take reports of International Humanitarian Law violations very seriously, and force Saudi Arabia and the UAE to also adhere to International Humanitarian Law. After all, they keep telling us that they are a world leader in human rights.

This is by no means a “biased” or “politicized” report by the UN about war crimes in Yemen. It is based on facts and figures on the ground and the warmongers cannot dismiss responsibility. The UN call for the international community to stop providing arms for use in Yemen is what also the long-suffering people of Yemen want. They want to determine their own fate and the UN Charter says they shouldn’t be bombed for practicing their rights.

847/940