HRW Denounces Saudi-Led Coalition’s Removal from UN’s ’Children Killers’ Blacklist

By Staff, Agencies

Human rights groups slammed the UN's decision on Monday for removing the Saudi-led coalition from a blacklist of warring parties responsible for the deaths and injuries of children, three years after it was first shamed for its devastating intervention in the Yemen war.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the coalition - led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE - would "be delisted for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease in killing and maiming due to air strikes".

Guterres warned that the coalition's actions in Yemen will be monitored and "any failure" to reduce the number of child casualties would result in it being added back onto the blacklist next year.

Saudi Arabia was responsible for the deaths or injuries of 222 children in Yemen in 2019, according to Reuters.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have repeatedly pressed the UN to remove the coalition from its list of shame, with tactics amounting to "bullying, threats, pressure", one official told Reuters.

Among the threats was to have clerics in Saudi Arabia issue a fatwa that would make it "anti-Muslim" for allied Islamic countries to participate or fund UN projects, the official added.

Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also accused Saudi Arabia of exerting "unacceptable" pressure on the UN due to the blacklist.

The UN ‘denied’ that the decision to remove the Saudi-led coalition from the blacklist was due to external pressure.