Possible war crimes by UAE, Saudis: UN

Three experts working for the UN’s top human rights body said the governments of Yemen, the UAE and Saudi Arabia may have been responsible for war crimes including rape, torture, disappearances and “deprivation of the right to life” during 3½ years of escalated fighting against rebels in Yemen.

In their first report for the Human Rights Council, the experts pointed to possible crimes by rebel Shia militia in Yemen, who have been fighting the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s government in a civil war since March 2015.

The experts also chronicled the damages from coalition airstrikes, the single most lethal force in the fighting, over the last year.

They urged the international community to “refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict”— an apparent reference to countries including the

GENEVA: THE WAR HAS DEVASTATED YEMEN’S HEALTH SYSTEM AND PROVIDED THE BREEDING GROUNDS FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST CHOLERA OUTBREAK LAST YEAR.

US and Britain that help arm the Saudi-led coalition, as well as Iran, which the coalition has accused of arming the Houthis. The experts visited some but not all parts of Yemen as they compiled the report.

The experts cited some 6,475 deaths from the conflict between March 2015 and June this year, but said the “real figure is likely to be significantly higher.” Other groups have estimated that more than 10,000 people have been killed. AP