Basic HTML Version
Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
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and law enforcement viewpoint (like the UN Security Council), or from legal
(international courts) and human rights (Human Rights Council) viewpoints.
As a result, they still appear passive in the face of blatant examples of human
rights violations both inside and outside Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps the best reaction to be shown at this sensitive international juncture
is to draw attention of these authorities to their natural duties and to safeguard
the ulterior goal of the United Nations system, which is to venerate humanity
at any time and place. It seems that setting up a fact-finding committee by
the UN Human Rights Council can be a first and strong step toward putting
an end to this bewildering disregard and silence in the face of human rights
violations. Such a committee should be duty-bound to see into claims about
blatant violation of human rights of Yemeni citizens as a result of attacks by
the Saudi-led military coalition.
1- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-threatens-to-
sell-off-us-assets-if-congress-passes-911-bill-a6987281.html
Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible
for any role in the September 11 assaults.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/07/15/us/document-september-11-28-
pages.html, 28 Pages of the 2002 Congressional Inquiry into the Sept. 11 Attacks.
Congress released the so-called “28 pages” on Friday that discuss the possible
involvement of Saudi Arabia in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The pages
have been withheld since the conclusion in 2002 of a congressional inquiry into the
attacks. JULY 15, 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/15/911-report-saudi-arabia-28-
pages-released
2- Coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia committed serious violations of international
law, including war crimes, in Yemen.
Throughout the year the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition supporting the
internationally recognized government in Yemen continued to bomb areas controlled
or contested by Huthi forces and their allies in Yemen, killing and injuring thousands
of civilians. Some attacks were indiscriminate, disproportionate or directed against
civilians and civilian objects including schools, hospitals.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/saudi-arabia/
report-saudi-arabia/
3-Saudi Arabia to increase the stock of its military hardware, accounting for 7% of
the world’s arms imports.
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/world-s-largest-importers-of-military-arms.html
4- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-storm-hongkong-idUSKCN1B22JL
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-iran-defense-
minister.html
5- For more information: Counter-Terrorism Committee: https://www.un.org/en/sc/
ctc/resources/res-sc.html
6-Article 2: Elements of an internationally wrongful act of a State
There is an internationally wrongful act of a State when conduct consisting of
an action or omission:
(a) Is attributable to the State under international law; and
(b) Constitutes a breach of an international obligation of the State
7- See: S/RES/2231 (2015), procurement Working Group-JCPOA