Saudi Lobbying Jeopardizing UN Yemen War Crimes Probe
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi Arabia has lobbied heavily against a Western resolution that would extend the mandate of UN investigators who have documented possible war crimes in Yemen, including by the Riyadh-led coalition, activists said.
The Saudi mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not immediately respond to a query about the allegations. The motion, brought by countries including the Netherlands and Canada, is due to be debated Thursday in a session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Activists said the vote would be close and might depend on the number of abstentions at the 47-member state forum.
The Group of Eminent Experts, set up by the council in 2017, has found repeatedly that coalition air strikes and shelling during the seven-year Saudi-led aggression may amount to war crimes.
Afrah Nasser, Yemen researcher at US-based group Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, "Saudi Arabia, a leading party to the conflict in Yemen accused of serious violations including likely war crimes, together with its coalition allies, is engaging in a tireless lobbying campaign to deter states at the Human Rights Council from renewing the (inquiry) mandate."
If the Council bows to Saudi pressure and fails to extend the mandate by two years, she said, it would be "a stain on the credibility of the Council and a slap in the face to victims".
A joint statement by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and Yemeni rights group Mwatana said a Saudi lobbying campaign seemed to be intensifying globally in a bid to dissolve support for the resolution and scuttle the investigators' group.
Kamel Jendoubi, head of the Group of Independent Experts, said in presenting its latest report last month that airstrikes launched by the coalition "continue to exact a huge toll on the civilian population".
Since March 2015, Jendoubi said, it is estimated that over 23,000 airstrikes had been carried out by the coalition and that over 18,000 civilians had been killed or wounded.
Its latest investigation covered four coalition airstrikes in which bombs fell on civilian homes, remote farms, and a major grain port, he said, voicing concern at a failure to abide by principles of proportionality and precautions in such attacks.
Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states such as the UAE, and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western countries.
The aim was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah movement which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
