Human Rights Council condemns all sides in the Yemen conflict

Human Rights Council condemns all sides in the Yemen conflict

Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The Human Rights Council (HRC) in its summary of the endless conflict in Yemen blamed all major parties for indiscriminate killings, violating human rights, and other horrendous misdeeds. Henceforth, the findings of the HRC commissioned report of the last 12 months follow the continuation of other reports over the period of this brutal conflict.

The HRC report paints an extremely bleak picture – similar to Syria and what is now developing in Ethiopia. Hence, untold numbers of deaths concerning the convulsions of war. This includes food insecurity, the collapsed health care system that was fragile before the conflict, the systematic abuse of women, and other terrible ills.

HRC condemned all parties to the military conflict. The report said, “Examples include humanitarian restrictions and obstacles to access to food and healthcare; arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, gender-based violence, including sexual violence; torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; denial of fair trial rights; violations of fundamental freedoms; persecution and violations against journalists, human rights defenders, minorities, migrants and internally displaced persons; and violations of children’s rights.”

Special condemnation of the ongoing crisis in Yemen was aimed at the international coalition under Saudi Arabia (supports the Yemeni Government) and the Houthis. The Southern Transitional Council and other forces in the conflict were also condemned.

The BBC reports, “The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.”

The real death toll is unknown but it is extremely high. For example, just below 4,000 people died from cholera in 2016 related to the convulsions of war. Similarly, people will have died from countless preventable types of illnesses because of the collapsed infrastructure and issues concerning malnutrition. Therefore, Yemen and Syria are a million miles away from rich elites enjoying exuberant lifestyles in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Chairperson of the Group of Eminent Experts, Kamel Jendoubi, said, “Given the horrific toll the war continues to take on the people of Yemen, it does not stand to reason, that third States continue to supply the parties to the conflict with the tools of war. The flow of arms must stop now.”

However, the conflict looks set to continue because of internal and external forces that have enormous mistrust. Hence, ordinary people – be they Sunni or Houthi – from north or south – will continue to suffer the convulsions of this brutal conflict.

The World Food Program feeds approximately 12 million Yemenis.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099342

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423