NEW YORK (Dispatches) – More than 60 non-governmental organizations have urged the United Nations General Assembly to renew the mandate of an investigative panel that used to examine the likelihood of perpetration of Saudi-led war crimes in Yemen.
The groups forwarded the request to the Assembly on Thursday, pressing the world body to re-establish the mechanism, whose mandate has not been renewed owing to pressure on the part of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The NGOs condemned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi for pushing UN members to vote against issuance of a fresh permit for the probing panel.
The Saudi regime has been leading a coalition of its allies, including the UAE, that has been invading Yemen since March 2015. The war has been seeking to restore power in Yemen to Riyadh’s former favorite officials.
The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and pushed the country close to the brink of outright famine.
The invaders have enjoyed generous political, logistic, and arms support from the United States and its Western allies. Among other types of ammunition, the allies have been providing Riyadh with attack weapons that the coalition has been using widely against densely-populated areas in Yemen.
The NGOs called on the Assembly to reinstate the panel so it can collect and preserve evidence of war crimes and rights abuses.
“The suffering already inflicted on civilians in the country demands this step to address impunity in the ongoing conflict and send a clear warning to perpetrators on all sides that they will be held accountable,” their joint statement read.
Meanwhile, the leader of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement has praised the steadfastness and resilience of the Yemeni nation in the face of the devastating Saudi-led military onslaught and crippling siege, stating that the Yemeni people personify the principle of resistance against enemies.
“Our people embody the principle of compassion, cooperation, piety and solidarity, and represent an impressive example of social cohesion,” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said at a ceremony in the capital Sana’a on Thursday evening.
He added, “Despite immense sufferings and challenges, brutal siege and dire economic situation, the Yemeni nation continues to tread its path to progress.”
“Today, we represent the principle of steadfastness in the face of enemies. All challenges that we are grappling with at the present time are the upshot of enemies’ conspiracies,” Houthi pointed out.