The UN’s Shame Unfolds

The United Nations has removed a Saudi-led coalition from a list of violators involved in Yemen’s war — drawing backlash from critics who say the global body is looking the other way with other offenders.

New York-based human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch said the Saudi coalition was delisted from the Children and Armed Conflict report’s “list of shame,” despite the fact it was responsible for more than 300 child casualties and multiple attacks on Yemeni schools and hospitals.

“The secretary-general has disgraced the U.N. by removing the Saudi-led coalition from his ‘list of shame’ even as it continues to kill and injure children in Yemen,” said Jo Becker, HRW children’s rights advocacy director.

Increased transparency can help shield the Secretary-General from pressure, by exposing the length some countries go to protect parties who violate the law.

 For 75 years the UN has been the force for peace in the world and it should be the ultimate defender of children’s safety, especially in war. By bowing to political pressure, the UN is undermining its position, Save the Children warned.

Yemeni Minister of Public Health and Population Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakkil considered that the United Nations has killed the Yemeni children twice by its silence about killing them by aggression and siege, and by removing Saudi Arabia from the list of child killers despite evidence and international reports.

The Minister of Health said during the consultative meeting of the health sector: More than seven thousand Yemeni children are martyrs and wounded, who have been killed by the aggression coalition in their homes since the first raid and the United Nations without shame removes Saudi Arabia of the list of shame.

He explained that one week after Saudi Arabia was removed from the list it killed and injured 37 children. And that the deaths of children, who are aged less than 28 days, as a result of the aggression and the blockade, amounted to 20% of the total births, and this number is documented internationally.

He stressed that the United Nations is supposed to bring Saudi leaders to the courts instead of giving them forgiveness Ignoring the Yemeni children’s blood.

To that, the Yemeni Minister of Health noted that ambulance operations and intensive care may stop as a result of the oil derivative crisis, and the United Nations is silently observing, despite its knowledge of the crisis.

He pointed out that more than 3,500 patients who have kidney failure are at risk of death if there are no oil derivatives at the dialysis centers. While Saudi continues preventing entry of oil tankers.

In its statement, the Ministry of Health also condemned the international silence towards crimes, representing the green light for the criminals to commit more crimes, saying, “If there was a real United Nations, the aggression would not continue for six years and still be committing crimes.”

It called on the international community to carry out its responsibilities towards the Yemeni people, who are targeted in the war of genocide by the US, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates and their alliances.

Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of the port city of Hudaydah to protest against the Saudi-led aggression and to condemn the United Nations’ silence.

The statement also held Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and their allies responsible for the crimes committed in the war and the consequences of the Saudi-led blockade.

It also called on the United Nations to shoulder its responsibility to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to them.

The demonstrators also condemned the stance of the UN on the humanitarian crisis in Hudaydah, considering its silence as evidence of its complicity in the aggression and its support for the invaders.

 A United Nations investigation in August 2018 found that airstrikes that killed thousands of civilians, as well as rape and torture committed war crimes.

An estimated 85,000 children have died of starvation and disease, and on average, 37 children are killed each month by foreign-made bombs.

These and other atrocities have led to calls for this list to shine a spotlight on the actions and identities of perpetrators of war violations against children.

Save the Children Director of Policy and International Programs Mat Tinkler said publishing an accurate list was a simple and effective way to protect children caught in the war in Yemen, by holding those responsible to account.

Immediate steps must be taken to protect Yemen’s children and to hold those who have caused them harm to account,” Mr. Tinkler said.

The report, which documents the UN verified grave violations against children in conflict zones over the whole of 2019, failed to hold the Saudi and Emirati led coalition to account for killing and injuring at least 222 children, and at least four incidents of attacks on schools and hospitals verified by the UN in 2019.

Yemen’s children remain under attack. For more than five years now, they have been killed and injured in their homes, on their way to school, and in the marketplace. They have even been bombed in hospitals and at funerals for their friends.

We still need to see urgent action to prevent the killing and maiming of children, and sexual violence against them – the two other grave violations the Tatmadaw is listed for.

This follows a dangerous pattern started at least since 2016 by the previous Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he admitted he would not list the Saudi and Emirati led coalition for violations in Yemen because of the political pressure he was under.

The decision to list warring parties in the report should be free from political pressure or considerations, including from permanent members of the UN Security Council or countries with powerful friends. It should be based on one consideration only: does the UN have verified data showing a pattern of grave violations against children’s rights in Yemen?

One of the simplest mechanisms to help stop this war on children is for the UN Secretary-General to name and shame an aggression coalition.

We call for a rigorous, objective, and transparent process to ensure parties are listed in the annexes in the report and delisted from them based on the same criteria, not on political considerations.

Written by Mona Zaid