Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s human rights violations in May (2020)

According to the UNDP, the civil war in Yemen has substantially deteriorated the country’s development. Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world before violence escalated in March 2015, and today millions of people lack access to sufficient food, fuel and medicine, almost all of which is imported. Around 80 per cent of the Yemeni population need humanitarian assistance.

More than half of Yemen’s hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed, the majority hit by airstrikes carried out by the UK and US-supported coalition. Coalition air strikes are responsible for most of the civilian casualties. Just during April and May, there were some acts of human rights violations committed by Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Here are the summary of them:

1- The Yemeni abductees' mothers league (AML) called on the international community to "save the lives of 44" people detained in the southern port city of Aden. The "44 detainees held in Bair Ahmed jail are at risk of COVID-19 infection," AML said in a statement, "after the prison's director caught the virus and his brother, who worked at the same jail, died. "While the Yemeni government has declared Aden as infected city, security authorities still refuse to release the prisoners," it added.

2- Three ancient buildings collapsed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa after their foundations were weakened by the Saudi coalition air strikes on the city. The structures, which had been inscribed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have repeatedly come under threat as a result of the five-year war between the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Houthi group. Heavy rains which caused flooding further eroded the buildings’ foundations causing them to collapse, officials explained, adding that the owners were killed as a result.

3- At least three people were reported wounded and many others missing as the initial toll of a Saudi-led coalition aerial attack on the Affar customs center in Bayda province. The bombing of the Affar customs center by coalition aircraft resulted in the burning of 11 locomotives, which included food, household items and generators. The customs authority said it “was unable to know the number of dead and injured as a result of the attack launched by the coalition air forces on the Affar customs center in Bayda, because of the continued flight of hostile aircraft over the airspace of the area”. “This attack is not the first on civilian sites, as the aggression has already bombed the Maytam customs center more than once, as well as the customs office and customs control office of Dhamar province,” the customs department said.

4- The Houthi movement in Yemen accused the Saudi-led Arab coalition of seizing 17 ships carrying food and oil supplies, and blocking its passage into the country. The marine forces of the Saudi-US led coalition have seized 14 ships loaded with petroleum derivative fuel and three other vessels carrying food supplies, despite the fact that all the ships have obtained UN-approved entry permits in Djibouti.

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