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Saudi Bombs Decimating Yemen

Saudi Bombs Decimating Yemen
folder_openYemen access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Of all the numerous and diverse resolutions that the UN security council has debated over the last six months, you would think that few could have been as pressing as securing a ceasefire in Yemen, Emily Thornberry wrote for The Guardian:

Saudi Bombs Decimating Yemen

Indeed the UK, which officially "holds the pen" on the Yemen issue, circulated a draft resolution proposing a ceasefire and a roadmap for lasting peace back in October.

However, this was the subject of an immediate veto and has not seen the light of day since, despite the UK chairing a Security Council meeting on Yemen just last week.

The draft was vetoed not by Russia or any other members of the security council with the actual power to do so, but by Saudi Arabia, whose UN ambassador explained: "There is a continuous and joint agreement with Britain concerning the draft resolution and whether there is a need for it or not."

Six months on, the need for peace is more urgent than ever, so you would have hoped the prime minister would have used her trip to the Gulf this week to tell the Saudis that - whatever objections they may have - Britain must sever its "continuous and joint agreement" and present the resolution immediately.

No such luck. Instead, the prime minister defiantly set out the so-called "May doctrine" for foreign policy. The upshot was that "our British national interest" is really the only thing that matters, and no amount of "sniping" about the catastrophe in Yemen should be allowed to get in the way of our trading relationship with the Saudis. In other words, there is no place in Theresa May's doctrine for old-fashioned considerations like human rights and humanitarian crises.

But if we can't rely on Tory ministers to respect such values, we can at least still look to the law. Thanks to the leading role played by Britain under a Labor government, it is now a key principle that arms sales should not be permitted if there is a clear risk of their being used to violate humanitarian law.

Asking whether that is the case with the £3bn worth of weapons Britain has sold to Saudi Arabia since the start of the Yemen conflict is not, therefore, sniping; it is better described as our moral and legal duty.

At a time when Yemen faces starvation, the Saudi-led forces have also destroyed cattle farms, food factories, water wells and marketplaces, along with the ports, airports, roads and bridges on which effective supplies of food aid depend.

One of the fundamental pillars of international humanitarian law is that proper distinction should be made between military targets and civilians. That is why indiscriminate bombing, let alone the deliberate targeting of residential areas or agricultural infrastructure, is considered a war crime.

Source: The Guardian, Edited by website team

 

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