NEW YORK – The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to extend aninternational probe of alleged war crimes committed in Yemen despite strongopposition from Saudi Arabia and several of its allies.
Nations voted 21 to 8, with 18 abstentions, in favour of a resolution thatrenewed the UN-backed investigation for a year.
Last month, investigators detailed evidence of possible war crimescommitted in Yemen by both the Saudi-led coalition and the Huthi rebelssupported by Iran.
The coalition and the Yemeni government, which together are battling theHuthis, strongly criticised the probe s initial report, arguing that itunderplayed rebel violations and Iran s role.
The Arab group in the rights council had backed a rival text that called onYemen s national human rights commission to take charge of futureinvestigations of the conflict.
That proposal was a non-starter for many states, given a widespread lack ofconfidence in the Yemeni commission.
The approved resolution led by a group of European states and Canada callson investigators to deliver another report next September.
In what may have been a consolation to the Arab group, the council passed asecond Yemen resolution calling for support to the national commission, butits impact is largely meaningless with the international probe continuingits work.——————————
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Probe members said they needed more time to fully document the range ofviolations in Yemen s conflict, which has killed nearly 10,000 people sinceMarch 2015 and triggered what the UN has called the world s worsthumanitarian crisis.
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Twenty-two million people in the country need aid, many of whom are at riskof famine.
Riyadh s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Abdulaziz Alwasil, said he votedno because the resolution did not address his “legitimate concerns”,notably about the “lack of balance” in the probe s first report.
The fact that it went to a vote underscored divisions on the issue withinthe 47-member rights council, which typically strives for consensus.
Britain s UN ambassador Julian Braithwaite had said his government wasparticularly “disappointed” that consensus could not be reached with theArab group, as happened when the probe was set up a year ago.
“It is clear that many instances, alleged violations committed by allparties have not yet been fully documented, particularly those committed bythe Huthis,” Braithwaite told the council.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the vote “sent a clear message that it standswith Yemeni civilians”.
“States at the UN Human Rights Council stood firm today, in the face ofshameful efforts by the Saudi-led coalition to quash a UN expert inquiry,”HRW s Geneva director, John Fisher, said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in March 2015 when President AbedrabboMansour Hadi fled into exile as rebels closed in on his last stronghold. -APP/AFP
