US-Saudi Aggression’s Targeting of Fishermen Premeditated Genocide

For five years, missiles and battleships of the coalition of aggression claimed the lives of hundreds of Yemeni fishermen and destroyed their boats without guilt they committed, except that they went out looking for sustenance for their own and their families, to find themselves targets for these missiles, or being held in the coalition’s prisons.

The staggering figures revealed by the General Fisheries Authority statistics for the number of dead and wounded fishermen who have been under the coalition bombing, reflect the great tragedy that these fishermen have experienced over the past five years.

According to the statistics issued by the Fisheries Authority, the coalition has claimed the lives of 271 fishermen and wounded 214 in 83 blatantly attacks during the past five years.

The coalition also kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured 1507 fishermen, of whom 23 are still in detention today.

Reports of international organizations and the testimonies of the massacre survivors confirm that the coalition intentionally committed these crimes despite full knowledge that the targets are only boats belonging to civilian fishermen.

Among these reports is a Human Rights Watch report published at the end of September 2019, which confirmed the coalition’s intent to commit the crime against fishermen in Al-Khokhah on September 15, 2019.

The report quoted one of the witnesses who survived the massacre, Nafie Harbi, as saying “A sea ship approached the fishing boat around 6:00 pm, and a person on board the ship through the loudspeaker ordered the fishermen to move to the front of the boat. After they gathered there, the coalition forces opened fire on them with light weapons, killing and wounding many men and children, after that the ship left the place..” Harbi was one of the wounded and had been swimming in the water for 4 days.

Although coalition crimes against fishermen are among the war crimes against humanity and are a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, which are concerned with protecting the lives of the civilian population and respecting their rights, the United Nations is still turning a blind eye to these crimes committed by the coalition against fishermen, and against civilians in all regions of Yemen, making it a partner to the coalition in committing these crimes.