A decision by the UN decision to remove Saudi Arabia from a blacklist of countries and groups accused of violating children’s rights has come under heavy criticism by human rights groups after the Saudis’ campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen was blamed for causing 60% of child deaths in the conflict.
Human Rights Watch accused Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, of giving in to “political manipulation” in the wake of furious protests from Riyadh. It said the UN had executed a “shocking flip-flop”.
Amnesty International decried “blatant pandering”, which it said “damages the credibility of the UN as a whole” while Oxfam described the decision to retract its findings “a moral failure.”
The Saudi government however said it was “wildly exaggerated” to claim that the coalition it leads was responsible for 60% of the child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year.
A UN report released last week attacked both coalition and rebel forces for a “very large number of violations” including attacks on schools and hospitals.
510 child deaths and 667 injuries were attributed to the coalition and 142 child deaths and 247 injuries to the Houthis. In 324 incidents, the responsible party could not be identified.
The UN said on Monday that it would now carry out a joint review with the coalition of the cases listed in the report. But the Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, insisted that the removal of the coalition from the blacklist was “irreversible and unconditional”.
International human rights groups have raised concerns about Saudi airstrikes and accused the coalition of deliberately targeting civilians with cluster bombs, which would constitute a war crime.
Oxfam said the UN report on children and conflict was yet more evidence that countries such as Britain and the US should halt “reckless” arms sales to all participants in the conflict.
“Political power and diplomatic clout have been allowed to trump the UN’s duty to expose those responsible for the killing and maiming of more than 1,000 of Yemen’s children,” said Sajjad Mohamed Sajid, Oxfam’s country director in Yemen.
“The killing of children in their homes, at schools and in hospitals should not be swept under the carpet. When the UN identifies crimes such as these it needs to act, regardless of who the perpetrators are.”
HRW’s deputy director for global advocacy, Philippe Bolopion, said: “After giving a similar pass to Israel last year, the UN secretary general’s office has hit a new low by capitulating to Saudi Arabia’s brazen pressure and taking the country off its just published list of shame. Yemen’s children deserve better.”
