Amnesty, HRW want Saudis suspended from Human Rights Council
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A Yemeni man sits by the grave of a relative reportedly killed during Saudi airstrikes at a cemetery in Sana’a, March 25, 2016. (© AFP)
Two leading international human rights groups say Saudi Arabia should be suspended from the UN Human Rights Council over the indiscriminate airstrikes being carried out in Yemen.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday that the oil-rich kingdom should be removed from the UN top human rights panel until it ends its aerial attacks against Yemen and an independent probe into the assaults are carried out.
“Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has gone beyond the pale and does not deserve anymore to sit on the Human Rights Council,” HRW deputy director Philippe Bolopion said.
The two rights groups further noted that their investigators documented 69 unlawful airstrikes by Saudi Arabia, killing about 200 children. They said homes, markets, hospitals, schools and mosques were struck in the air raids.
They also argued that Riyadh is targeting civilian areas in Yemen with internationally banned cluster munitions, and laying siege to ports to prevent basic goods from reaching its troubled southern neighbor.
“Saudi Arabia is in a league of its own,” Bolopion said, adding that the kingdom is “getting away with murder in a way that no other country has been able to do.”
The rights groups highlighted that Saudi Arabia has exploited its position in the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to torpedo an independent international investigation into possible war crimes in Yemen.
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