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YEMEN / WAR CRIMES
STORY: YEMEN / WAR CRIMES
TRT: 02:37
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 27 AUGUST 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND /FILE
Photos courtesy Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen team
DATE UNKNOWN, SANAA, YEMEN
1. PHOTO: destruction Siteen, Sanaa
27 AUGUST 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Garraway, Member Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts:
“The highest direct cause of casualties is in fact the coalition airstrikes. There have been a large number of civilian casualties caused by coalition air strikes.”
4. Med shot, Group of Experts in meeting
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Garraway, Member Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts:
“If the removal in the targeting process, of the protections built in and designed to protect civilians - if the removal of those protections is such as to effectively undermine international humanitarian law then yes, they may arise to violations of international humanitarian law and in certain cases – provided the necessary intent is there – to war crimes as well.”
DATE UNKNOWN, SANAA, YEMEN
6. PHOTO: rubble
27 AUGUST 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Garraway, Member Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts:
“There are three main areas of concern, the first is obviously the hostilities themselves, the conduct of the hostilities, and that is not just the coalition airstrikes it is also the fighting in for example Ta’ izz where there is extensive shelling being carried out by the Houthis against the civilian population there, the second area of serious concern is the restrictions imposed by the coalition on the accessibility of the Yemeni population to vital supplies, food, medicine, fuel, etc. And the third area, which is of considerable concern is detention. We have found that all parties appear to be carrying out, what we believe to be arbitrary detention.”
DATE UNKNOWN, SANAA, YEMEN
7. PHOTO: Destroyed aircrafts
8. PHOTO: destroyed building
9. PHOTO: Group of Experts in rubble
27 AUGUST 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Garraway, Member Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts: “The purpose of the list is that if an opportunity arises, for there to be accountability for crimes in Yemen, that there will be a baseline that accountability process can start.”
DATE UNKNOWN, SANAA, YEMEN
11. PHOTO: Group of Experts in rubble
27 AUGUST 2018, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Charles Garraway, Member Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts: “Yemeni people deserve better, they are a proud people with a long civilized history and we owe it to them to ensure that their plight is relieved as soon as possible.”
DATE UNKNOWN, SANAA, YEMEN
13. PHOTO: people in rubble
Parties involved in the armed conflict in Yemen may have committed possible war crimes, an independent UN Group of experts has documented.
Charles Garraway, a member of the Expert Group appointed following a UN Human Rights Council resolution, said “If the removal in the targeting process, of the protections built in and designed to protect civilians- if the removal of those protections is as such as to effectively undermine international humanitarian law then yes, they may arise to violations of international humanitarian law and in certain cases – provided the necessary intent is there – to war crimes as well.”
In a report documenting human rights violations, the Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts, point out that coalition forces are responsible for most of the documented civilian casualties.
Garraway said: “The highest direct cause of casualties is in fact the coalition airstrikes. There have been a large number of civilian casualties caused by coalition air strikes.”
However, the report cites that parties to the conflict may have violated international humanitarian law and call for all parties to cease hostilities. Some of the human rights violations documented in the report include, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, torture as well as recruitment of children into the conflict.
The report also raises concerns on the restrictions imposed by the coalition on the accessibility of the Yemeni population to “vital supplies, food, and fuel.”
The report drawn by a team of three Independent experts describing the conflict as “forgotten”, has called on the international community, through the Human Rights Council to keep Yemen on its agenda. The Group of experts on Yemen was established through a UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating them to monitor and report on the situation of human rights - alleged violations and abuses of international human rights - since September 2014, when the conflict begun.
In September 2014, the Houthis took control of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and proceeded to push southwards towards the country's second-biggest city, Aden. In response to the Houthis' advances, a coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthis and restore Yemen's government.
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