International organizations undertake to prosecute Saudi crimes in Yemen

Al-Sabah Al-Yemeni

International human rights organizations have vowed that Saudi Arabia will not lose sight of its work in Yemen, and the organization will not stop trying to document and show the impact of coalition air strikes on Yemeni civilians, despite the attempted aggression to prevent them from entering Yemen.

The Saudi-led coalition has bombed hospitals, schools and homes in Yemen last year and has committed “gross violations” against children, international human rights groups said.

Hospitals, schools, factories, funeral halls and people’s homes – are just some of the civilian targets in Yemen bombed by the Saudi-led coalition supported by the United States and Britain.

“There must be a change in the way the coalition conducts its war in Yemen because even wars have rules,” said Mark Kay of Save the Children, a non-governmental organization for US-based ABC News.

“Each side and every other aspect of this war inside Yemen is on that list, but the only side that is not on that list is the Saudi-led coalition,” he said.

Each year, the United Nations publishes an annual report on children and armed conflict, naming States and armed groups responsible for killing and maiming children during war.

Human rights defenders were angry last year when former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted Saudi Arabia had been removed from the list of shame after intense pressure.

“When you write off a country, you send a message to all over the world that only certain countries will take responsibility for their actions,” Kay said.

In anticipation of this year’s report, Save the Children sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding that the Saudi-led coalition be included in the black list and a 37,500-page petition was attached.

The organization called on the United Nations to confront the authoritarian regime in the Middle East and to expose it to the world for its war crimes in Yemen.

“Last week we sent a 37,500-strong petition to the Secretary-General’s office … We ask him to make a strong decision and make sure that the Saudi alliance is included in the list of shame,” Kay said.

“He must do what Ban Ki-moon failed to do last year.”

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