UN official condemns airstrikes in Yemen
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: At least 140 killed
GENEVA — The UN human rights chief on Monday denounced suspected Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen that killed at least 140 people, faulting the Human Rights Council for not doing more in the face of a “climate of impunity” in the war-torn country.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein cited the weekend attack in Yemen’s capital and reiterated his calls for an independent investigation of rights abuses and other violations in Yemen. The 47-member Geneva-based council, which includes Saudi Arabia, all but ignored those calls at its last session in September.
Zeid noted that weddings, marketplaces, hospitals, schools “and now mourners at a funeral” have been hit during the conflict, “resulting in massive civilian casualties and zero accountability for those responsible.”
Since the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition started launching airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels in March 2015, at least 4,125 civilians have been killed and more than 7,200 wounded in Yemen, Zeid’s office said in a statement, including 369 civilian casualties this month alone.
Zeid expressed concerns that an escalation of hostilities could follow, saying “the international community has a legal and moral duty to react robustly to the increasingly horrific levels of civilian casualties in Yemen, just as it has in many other situations.”