Saudis
have been killing and maiming children across Yemen
According to
Reuters, a confidential draft of the latest UN blacklist on child
victims of armed conflict included Saudi Arabia and its coalition
related to the large number of children they’ve killed and maimed
in the war in Yemen.
The report
confirmed that Saudi actions “objectively led to” 683 child
casualties, and 38 verified incidents, including attacks on both
schools and hospitals within Yemen in the course of 2016. The draft’s
Yemen section includes the Saudi coalition, al-Qaeda, pro-government
militias, and the Shi’ite Houthi movement, though the coalition was
by far responsible for the most casualties.
Saudi Arabia
invaded Yemen in early 2015, with a coalition that includes Egypt,
Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Senegal, Sudan,
and the United States. US involvement has included targeting support
for Saudi warplanes, in-air refueling for Saudi bombers, and naval
participation in the blockade of Yemen.
The report
on child casualties is distinct from a UN Security Council report
making the rounds back in August, which confirmed 502 children killed
in the Saudi war in the past year.
The
“name-and-shame” blacklist on children’s rights violation is
released annually by the United Nations. Saudi Arabia and its
coalition were also included on the list last year upon release.
That list,
released in early June of 2016, only lasted a couple of days before
the UN announced it was “temporarily” removing the Saudis because
the Saudi government was complaining. Despite the removal being done
pending review, there’s no sign serious review ever happened, and
the Saudis insisted that there would be no mechanism for adding them
back to the list.
This year’s
report is due to be submitted to the UN Security Council this month,
and it’s likely to be the latest in a long line of reports related
to the Yemen War that the Saudis will be desperately trying to bury.
As with a recent effort by the UN General Assembly to investigate war
crimes in Yemen, the Saudis have tended to get their way, presenting
moves that bury the worst of the war’s excesses as “compromise”
resolutions.
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