Salvation Gov’t calls for renewing int’l experts group term, clarifies its position on experts’ 4th report
SANAA, Oct. 06 (YPA) – The National Salvation Government on Wednesday called on the Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the Group of Experts as the only UN mechanism that investigates human rights violations in Yemen.
This came during a press conference held by the national team concerned with dealing with the United Nations Committee of Experts this morning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in the capital, Sanaa, with the aim of clarifying the position of the Salvation Government on the fourth report of the international experts’ group on Yemen, which was submitted to the Human Rights Council on September 14, 2021.
Ambassador Abdulelah Hajar, Advisor to President of the Supreme Political Council – Head of the National Team to Deal with the Regional and International Experts Group, reviewed the highlights of the fourth report of the experts’ group on Yemen.
The experts’ committee expressed its regret that they were unable to reach Yemen for the third year in a row due to the intransigence of the Saudi-led coalition countries and the Hadi’s government, amid the welcome of the Salvation Government in Sanaa to visit Yemen.
The experts’ report said that despite the strong recommendations they made in their previous reports to the Security Council; however, third countries, including France, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, continued to support the war on Yemen, through arms sales that experts considered the fuel that perpetuates the conflict.
The committee’s report confirmed that since March 2015, the coalition has launched more than 23,000 airstrikes, killing and wounding more than 18,000 civilians, which has doubled the suffering of Yemenis, especially as these raids targeted markets, hospitals, weddings, funerals, children on buses, fishermen’s boats and homes.
The experts’ report pointed to the prolonged closure of Sana’a International Airport since August 2016, by Hadi’s government and the coalition, which prevented civilians from obtaining life-saving health care, in addition to imposing restrictions on imports to Hodeida such as food and fuel, the most of which was the prevention of 13 ships carrying More than 350 thousand metric tons of fuel derivatives from entering despite having the relevant permits.
The report also touched on the enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrests, and torture practiced by the Hadi’s government forces against journalists, doctors, citizens, and human rights defenders in the areas under their control.
The report noted that there are violations committed by the Hadi government against children by recruiting and training them in Saudi Arabia to fight in Yemen.
The report of the expert committee concluded that there were war crimes committed by the coalition countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in addition to the Hadi government and the Southern Transitional Council, including murder, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, outrages upon personal dignity, and recruitment of children under the age of 15.
During the conference, Ambassador Hajar said that the expert team had visited Sanaa in March 2018 and issued four reports during the past four years, which braked the international silence towards the violations of the coalition countries and formed international documents that spread all over the world by monitoring the crimes of the aggression coalition.
Hajar affirmed that the National Salvation Government deals positively with the team of experts and always welcomes their visit to the capital, Sanaa, and its affiliated areas.
YPA