Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGENEVA / YEMEN AIRSTRIKES
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: GENEVA / YEMEN AIRSTRIKES
TRT: 1:37
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 AUGUST 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Throssel, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Our Office in Yemen has been gathering more information about an airstrike by Coalition Forces that hit a hotel in Sana’a Governorate on Wednesday 23 August. So far we have been able to confirm that 33 civilians were killed and another 25 injured in the attack.”
4. Close up, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Throssel, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In all these cases, in which civilians were killed and injured, witnesses told our Yemen team that there had been no warnings that an attack was imminent. Attacks targeting civilians or civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law, which also prohibits indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. We remind all parties to the conflict, including the Coalition, of their duty to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law. We call on the relevant authorities to carry out credible, comprehensive and impartial investigations into this incident.”
6. Wide shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Throssel, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In the week from 17 to 24 August, 58 civilians have been killed, including 42 by the Saudi-led Coalition, as I have mentioned. Unknown armed men killed 12 civilians and the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis killed four civilians. This week’s total is more than the number of civilians killed in the whole of June, when 52 were killed and in July, which saw 57 civilian deaths”.
8. Various shots, reporters
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for an independent investigation into air strikes led by Coalition forces that hit a hotel in Sana’a Governorate on Wednesday (23 Aug) that killed more than 30 civilians in the attack.
Speaking to journalists today (25 Aug) in Geneva, OHCHR’s spokesperson Elizabeth Throssel said “our Office in Yemen has been gathering more information about an airstrike by Coalition Forces that hit a hotel in Sana’a Governorate on Wednesday 23 August. So far we have been able to confirm that 33 civilians were killed and another 25 injured in the attack.”
According to witnesses, two airstrikes were on the village of Bayt Al Athri in Arhab district. The first attack had reportedly no casualties. However, the second airstrike shortly afterwards hit the Istirahat Al Shabag hotel, destroying the second floor and damaging the rest of the building. Witnesses said 67 people were in the hotel when the attack happened.
Also on 23 August, an airstrike by Coalition Forces hit a house in Sanhan district, also in Sana’a Governorate, killing six civilians and injuring another 13.
OHCHR also reported on an airstrike by the Saudi-led Coalition on 22 August that killed a woman and two children and two women and two children were injured. This happened some 20 kilometres from the Yemen-Saudi border in Sa’ada Governorate.
“In all these cases, in which civilians were killed and injured, witnesses told our Yemen team that there had been no warnings that an attack was imminent”, said OHCHR’s Throssel. She reminded that “attacks targeting civilians or civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law, which also prohibits indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. We remind all parties to the conflict, including the Coalition, of their duty to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law. We call on the relevant authorities to carry out credible, comprehensive and impartial investigations into this incident.”
Throssel said that “in the week from 17 to 24 August, 58 civilians have been killed, including 42 by the Saudi-led Coalition, as I have mentioned. Unknown armed men killed 12 civilians and the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis killed four civilians. This week’s total is more than the number of civilians killed in the whole of June, when 52 were killed and in July, which saw 57 civilian deaths”.
Since March 2015, OHCHR has documented 13,829 civilian casualties, including 5,110 killed and 8,719 injured. These numbers have been verified by OHCHR’s Yemen office. However, the overall number is estimated to probably be much higher.
