Human Rights Groups Slam UN for Taking Saudi-Led Coalition Off Blacklist

Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch’s children’s rights advocacy director, accused the US Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of adding a new level of shame to his ‘list of shame’ by removing the Saudi-led coalition from a global blacklist of parties whose actions have harmed children in conflict and ignoring the UN’s own evidence of continued grave violations against children.”

Adrianne Lapar, director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, an international advocacy group, said that by removing the Saudi-led coalition, which also includes the United Arab Emirates, “the secretary-general sends the message that powerful actors can get away with killing children.”

She called for an independent and transparent assessment of the process of de-listing the coalition, “to ensure that all violators are held to the same standard, no matter who they or their friends are.” Gamba replied in response to a question on whether Saudi Arabia offered the UN any incentives to get off the list, “absolutely not.”

The UN chief’s annual report to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict released Monday removed the coalition from a relatively new list of government forces and armed groups “that have put in place measures … aimed at improving the protection of children,” despite his finding that the coalition was responsible for the killing and maiming of 222 children last year including 171 from airstrikes.

The report was issued as the Saudi-led aggression launched an airstrike struck a vehicle carrying civilians in northern Yemen on Monday, killing 13 people, including four children.

Virginia Gamba, the UN special representative for children in armed conflict, told a news conference launching the report that the secretary-general made the decision to remove the Saudis from the “blacklist” following “the sustained, significant decrease in killing and maiming due to airstrikes.”

The Saudi-led military coalition has officially been on the blacklist for the past three years.

It had been briefly added to the blacklist in 2016 and then removed by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pending review. At the time, Ban accused Saudi Arabia of exerting “unacceptable” undue pressure after sources told Reuters that Riyadh threatened to cut some UN funding. Saudi Arabia denied threatening Ban.

When asked if the UN had come under any pressure to remove the Saudi-led coalition from the list this year, the UN envoy for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, told reporters: “I can answer that very, very clearly – absolutely not.”

The UN report does not subject those listed to action but rather shames parties to conflicts in the hope of pushing them to implement measures to protect children. It has long been controversial with diplomats saying Saudi Arabia and Israel both exerted pressure in recent years in a bid to stay off the list.

Source: Agencies

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