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STORY: GENEVA / YEMEN CASUALTIES
TRT: 01:28
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 JUNE 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
23 JUNE 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations exterior
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Over the past month, we have been able to verify a total of 49 civilian deaths. Between 21 May and 6 June, 19 civilians were killed in Taizz. Witnesses interviewed by the UN Human Rights Office said the victims were hit by shelling attacks by the popular committees affiliated with the Houthis. Twelve shelling incidents reportedly hit ten civilian neighbourhoods and two markets. Also on 21 May, seven civilians were killed reportedly as a result of mortar attacks from areas controlled by fighters affiliated with Popular Resistance Committees and Army Units loyal to President Hadi.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“During the more than two years since the conflict in Yemen began, marketplaces have been struck a number of times, causing loss of civilian life. We recall that indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks or attacks targeting civilian objects such as markets are prohibited under international humanitarian law. We remind all parties to the conflict of their obligation to ensure full respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
6. Various shots, journalists
A United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson said at least 49 civilians have been killed in a string of indiscriminate shelling attacks on public spaces and markets in Yemen over the past month adding that such attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva today (23 Jun), Ravina Shamdasani reported that seven were killed on 21 May as a result of mortar attacks from areas controlled by fighters affiliated with Popular Resistance Committees and Army Units loyal to President Hadi.” She also said 19 civilians were killed in Taiz in twelve shelling incidents on ten civilian neighbourhoods and two markets. Shamdasani told journalists that witnesses interviewed by OHCHR said the victims “were hit by shelling attacks by the popular committees affiliated with the Houthis.”
The Spokesperson also confirmed the deaths of at least 23 civilians on 17 June as a result of an airstrike, helicopter attack, and shelling on a house and nearby market area located just a few hundred metres from the Yemen-Saudi border in Shada District in Sa’ada Governorate. The airstrike hit a house on the western side of the marketplace in the village of Moshnaq, with some 25 people believed to be inside. Residents said those who survived the airstrike tried to flee the building but came under machinegun attack from helicopters that flew over the area some 10 minutes after the strike. Rescuers from neighbouring villages were unable to reach the market for an hour as shelling reportedly continued.
Shamdasani stressed that “indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks or attacks targeting civilian objects such as markets are prohibited under international humanitarian law” and reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligation to “ensure full respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
More than two years since the conflict in Yemen began, marketplaces have been struck a number of times, causing loss of civilian life. Since March 2015, the UN Human Rights Office has recorded a total of 13,504 civilian casualties, including 4,971 killed and 8,533 injured.
