Saudi Impunity Continues as UN Ditches Probe Into Yemen War Crimes

Caving to stiff opposition from Saudi Arabia, western countries on Wednesday abandoned their proposal for a United Nations inquiry into human rights violations committed during the six-month-old military assault on Yemen—which is led by the powerful Gulf monarchy and backed by the U.S.

The Netherlands tossed out its draft resolution, which had gained backing from other governments, following a vigorous diplomatic campaign from Saudi Arabia. The proposal would have mandated the UN High Commissioner to dispatch a team to investigate human rights violations on all sides of Yemen’s ongoing war. It would have also required all parties to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in need.

The development was met with immediate rebuke from rights campaigners.

“The western decision to block the investigation is a disgrace to everything they stand for—from democracy to human rights,” Rooj Alwazir, a Yemeni activist currently based in the U.S., told Common Dreams.

“How much more destruction do they need to see for an independent investigation to happen? How much longer are we going to watch entire communities be terrorized and wiped out? By blocking the investigation they are standing with the Saudis and are complicit in the war crimes,” added Alwazir, who is a co-founder of Support Yemen Media.

“How much more destruction do they need to see for an independent investigation to happen? How much longer are we going to watch entire communities be terrorized and wiped out?”
—Rooj Alwazir, Support Yemen Media

According to Amnesty International, the Saudi coalition is responsible for the vast majority of the at least 2,355 civilians killed and 4,862 wounded since bombings began in late March. Earlier this week, the coalition bombed a Yemeni wedding party and killed at least 131 people. The attack followed Saudi-led strikes on humanitarian aid warehouses, internally displaced persons camps, factories, densely populated residential neighborhoods, schools, shelters, and water infrastructure.