New York(ANN)-War crimes investigators have called on the UN Human Rights Council to provide them with the opportunity to continue a probe into the “extremely alarming” situation in Yemen, irrespective of resistance from Saudi Arabia and a number of its allies that are involved in an atrocious military campaign against the impoverished Arab country.
CThe investigators, appointed by the United Nations’ top human rights body last year, presented a report on Wednesday, which concluded that all sides may have committed “war crimes” in the three-year-old conflict raging across Yemen.
Kamel Jendoubi, who heads the so-called Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts, insisted that “in light of the gravity of the situation and the limited time given to the mandate, additional investigations are needed.”
“The situation in Yemen continues to be extremely alarming. We call upon you to keep the situation in Yemen at the top of the priorities of the Council,” Jendoubi said.
In this file photo taken on August 10, 2018 Yemenis gather next to the destroyed bus at the site of a Saudi airstrike, that targeted the Dhahyan market the previous day in the northwestern province of Sa’ada. (Photo by AFP)
He also urged diplomats to “unanimously” adopt a resolution led by a group of European countries and Canada, calling for a one-year extension.
This, Jendoubi said, was necessary “to ensure that truth is revealed and accountability is attained.”
Observers argue that Saudi Arabia, which launched a devastating military campaign with a number of its regional allies against Yemen in March 2015 with the aim of bringing the government of Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement, is actively working to quash the international probe.
Yemenis dig graves for children, who were killed when their bus was hit during a Saudi airstrike, that targeted the Dhahyan market the previous day in the northwestern province of Sa’ada on August 10, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Last week, Human Rights Watch criticized the Riyadh regime’s “campaign to discredit and undermine a UN investigation into abuses by all Yemen’s warring parties,” calling it “yet another blatant attempt to avoid scrutiny of the coalition’s own actions in Yemen.”
Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.
More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.