The armistice will not resolve the damages in Yemen, compensation is a priority: US website

The “Just Security” website of the US National Security Council said that the ongoing truce in Yemen does not erase the damage that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and mercenary forces inflicted on civilians over the years of war, nor does it contribute to alleviating the burdens that Yemenis still bear.

The website stressed that the coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, had made promises to provide assistance to the civilian victims of their violations. They acknowledged, at least rhetorically, that civilians are the ones who suffer and must receive assistance, and that providing this assistance cannot wait for the fighting to end.

Moreover, it said that there is an increasing recognition that individual victims of gross violations of international humanitarian law have the right to obtain compensation for the damages they have suffered.

He wondered: What do the warring parties in Yemen owe to the civilian victims? A new 170-page report under the title “Back to Zero”: A civilian from many who are looking for compensation seek for an answer.

Belqis, “a pseudonym,” said that in 2015, an air strike carried out by Saudi Arabia and the UAE-led coalition killed her husband, destroyed her home, and made her and her four children homeless. She said: I have lost all of my life, my husband is gone, and I have lost my shelter.

The US website also revealed that civilian victims of other types of violations, such as torture, have been ignored by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies. Therefore, the United Nations Security Council has the authority to refer the situation in Yemen to the International Criminal Court and establish an international mechanism for Yemen’s compensation.

He added that since Saudi Arabia and the UAE entered the war in 2015, not only has the United Nations Security Council failed to take appropriate measures to ensure accountability for serious violations of international law in Yemen, but it hardly referred to accountability, never to reparations.

Last fall, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were able to pressure countries participating in the United Nations Human Rights Council to cancel an international investigation documenting the damage caused by the bombing and recommending accountability, including compensation, for wartime violations. Thus, the countries have so far failed to establish an alternative justice mechanism.

He said: Wounded civilians could not afford medical treatment. Civilians whose homes were destroyed were unable to pay rent. Civilians whose loved ones were killed were left without psychological support or apology, and as time goes by, the violations are repeated.

The website stated that reparations for the harm caused to civilians in Yemen should be a major priority for the concerned countries in the future. In addition, the international community should call on specific warring parties in Yemen, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the mercenary government, to fulfill their obligations to compensate civilians in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the countries should support investigations and documentation of civilian harm individually, and on a community level. There also should be consultations with civilian victims, community groups, and civil society, and high-level research and discussions on possible modalities for reparations in Yemen.

The failure to guarantee compensation for the damages caused to civilians in Yemen is a choice to impose the costs of the war on those who had no say in the decision to go to war and did not play any role in the fighting.

The future of Yemen must be decided by the Yemenis themselves. However, in order to have a meaningful say in the future, countries that seek to support peacemakers in Yemen, rather than warmongers, must call for compensation for civilians who have been harmed by all parties to the conflict.