Yemen conflict: Abuses by all

parties

A Yemeni girl with her infant sister outside temporary shelters at a camp for internally displaced persons on
the outskirts of Sanaa last week. A UN report has found that "coalition air strikes have caused most of the
documented civilian casualties" in Yemen's conflict.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
PUBLISHED
AUG 29, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT

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UN investigators believe all sides may have committed war

crimes, identify alleged perpetrators
GENEVA • All sides in Yemen's bloody conflict may have committed war
crimes, UN investigators said, highlighting deadly air strikes, rampant
sexual violence, and the recruitment of children as soldiers.
 In their first report, a team of UN-mandated investigators yesterday said
they had "reasonable grounds to believe the parties to the armed conflict
in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of
international humanitarian law".

Many of these violations may amount to "war crimes" the report said,
adding that the investigators had identified a number of alleged
perpetrators.

The devastating conflict in Yemen has left nearly 10,000 people dead
since March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to fight Houthi
rebels closing in on the last bastion of President Abdrabbuh Mansour
Hadi's government.

The conflict in what was already one of the world's poorest countries has
caused what the United Nations has described as the world's worst
humanitarian crisis.

The Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts,

which was created by the UN Human Rights Council last September,
detailed a long line of abuses committed by all parties to the conflict.
"There is little evidence of any attempt by parties to the conflict to
minimise civilian casualties," said the group's chairman Kamel Jendoubi
in a statement.
 10,000

Total number of deaths in the devastating conflict in Yemen since March 2015.

The report said Houthi rebels and their allies loyal to the former
president Ali Abdullah Saleh are also accused of impeding the delivery of
aid and other important goods.

It concluded that "coalition air strikes have caused most of the

documented civilian casualties", pointing to a large number of strikes on
residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities,
civilian boats and medical facilities.
"The specific cases investigated by the Group of Experts raise serious
concerns about the targeting process applied by the coalition," the report
said, pointing out that in many cases there were no military targets in the
vicinity of the attacks.

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The report covers the period from September 2014 through June this
year, and does not address the latest series of deadly strikes that have
killed dozens of children.

The experts said they had "received substantial information indicating

that the government of Yemen, the coalition-backed forces and the
Houthi-Saleh forces have conscripted or enlisted children... and used
them to participate actively in hostilities".

The report also decried the devastating impact a blockade imposed by

the Saudi coalition on Yemen's ports and the Sanaa airport had had on
the civilian population.
The experts did not delve into the web of countries supporting different
parties to Yemen's conflict, including the US, Britain and Iran, but called
on all nations to stop selling arms that could be used in the war.

The Saudi-led military coalition has referred the UN report to its legal
team for review, a spokesman said according to Reuters.

UN-backed talks between Yemen's government and the Houthis are to

open in Geneva on Sept 6 - a first step towards resuming peace
negotiations that broke down two years ago.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE