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The
on-going dispute in Yemen has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in
10 decades. The nation was already on the edge due to poverty, corruption,
authoritarian government and environmental neglect war just aggravated these
conditions. Before civil war almost 60% of the population already needed
protection and aid, the war increased the number to 80% of the population.
Why is there a war? Click here to know.
The war between the Houthi and pro-Hadi people with several other local groups have fought with air-strikes, landmines, and children involving in the war on each other while civilians were bearing the brunt of civil war. Almost 100,000 people have been killed up to date with over 17,500 people were confirmed to be civilians.
The UAE
backed Southern Transition Council have captured the South part of Yemen while
Houthi resides in most of the northern and central part of the country. Every
party, organization and local group who had been in the war is accused of
breaking some basic human laws such as:
1. Illicit Airstrikes
Abdullah
al-Ibbi, a 47-year-old man was happily having dinner with his two wives,
children, and their grandchildren, when in a moment his whole family got buried
under the wreckage of his house except his three sons due to airstrike
bombings.
According
to the Human Rights Watch, the Saudi-led coalition has conducted 20,100
airstrikes on Yemen since 2015; amongst them 90 were illegal, killing bunch of
people like ants. The coalition has bombed schools, hospitals, buses, civilian
areas, bridges, factories, mosques, and detention centers.
On 22nd
April 2018, the airstrike hit a wedding in Bani Qais
district of Hajjah Governorate, Yemen in which 35 people were killed including
the bride. In early 2016, a UN report suggested that coalition must be
targeting people intentionally and stopping the aid to reach victims.
On 15th October 2016, the coalition carried
an airstrike on an ongoing funeral which killed 140 people and injured 525.
When Saudi was asked about it, initially they refused but later Saudi Air force
blamed it on ‘wrong information’ provided by an unnamed party.
The latest
bombings were done in March 2020 on the capital of Yemen, Sana’a where it also
struck a nearby school and an airport base.
2. Indiscriminate Fires
An
artillery attack becomes indiscriminate when it can affect the legitimate
target and civilians without distinction and are prohibited according to the
world treaty. But, in Yemen, every party has conducted a war crime by launching
indiscriminate artillery attacks.
When Houthis
movement start spreading towards the south as they wanted to expand their
territory, they launched indiscriminate ballistic towards Saudi and at Riyadh’s
airport.
3. Children’s Rights
A major
concern in front of the UN is about the children's safety and health in Yemen as
UNICEF said that one-third of the fighters in the war are children. Many
children are dying due to preventable diseases such as Cholera, hunger, malnutrition,
etc.
Every 10
minutes a child die due to hunger in Yemen and more than 500,000 have died so
far. Education has also suffered a big-time due to bombings and approx.1600
schools are schools that are unfit to reopen. In some areas schools are in good
condition but not functioning as there is no one to attend the school due to
bombings which have killed children in the past.
On 24th
March 2017, Doctor Abdulkarim al-Najjar observed the
pattern in augment of premature births and deformities in Yemen. Most of the
mothers were acutely malnourished and belong to the areas of heavy bombardment
such as Sana’a, Sa’adah, Ta’izz, and Hudaydah.
In July 2020 UN released a ‘list of shame’ in violation
against children in conflict in 2018 where 398 children were killed by Houthis,
729 by Saudi-led coalition, and 58 casualties were reported under the name of the
Yemeni government.
4. Women’s Rights
The discrimination against women was prevalent in Yemen
before the war; women were not allowed to participate in any political or economic
sphere. It increased to 63% in the post-war era. The parties accused women of
prostitution, promiscuity, and immorality when they tried to up rise. There is an
increase in domestic violence; sexual abuse and harassment restrict the
movement of women.
Before the war, there is no rule of minimum age to get
married in Yemen which results in early child marriage and trafficking of them
into other countries as sex slaves. A
Refugee family in al-Shimayateen reported that
their 13-year old daughter was kidnapped, raped, and killed by a man who used
to provide them with the food.
Women have been tortured and abducted
even in detention centers where they were forced to remove their clothes in
front of everybody and raped brutally. It was reported by the UN in their
September report in 2019 stating that there were 12 confirmed cases of sexual
violence include 4 on men and children. But the victims of sexual abuse are
highly stigmatized hence, large no. of cases go unnoticed and not reported.
5. Erratic Detentions and Forced Disappearances
Houthis, The Yemeni Government, Saudi led
Coalition, UAE back parties have been accused of forced detentions, killing,
erratic disappearance of various people who, according to them were breaking
any kind of laws.
Baakar, a 26-year-old doctor who was
released recently spoke to Al Jazeera news and said that those 15 months he
spent there were worst than hell. He was hung by wrists and left to rot in his faeces
and urine for 50 days in an underground prison where barely any oxygen was
present.
He was forcefully abducted by Houthis as
he had treated a refugee from different religious group and was kept until his
family paid a large sum of amount to the group. He also said that whatever he
saw there, it confirmed to him that it was the end of humanity.
The coalition even beat people with iron rods
and whatever they can find. Baakar also told the media that there was a man who
was hung up from his penis and was not allowed to urinate.
6. Landmines and Un-exploded bombs
During the bombings through Air-strikes,
some bombs didn’t explode and they are still present on the grounds of Yemen
which poses a great threat as they can explode at any time endangering the
lives of people.
Houthi forces have been using
antipersonnel mines, improvised explosive devices, and anti-vehicle mines along
the western coast of Yemen which has killed thousands of civilians and stopped
aid workers to provide aid to victims.
7. Migrants’ Abuse
Human Rights Watch revealed in their
documentary that there is a special group network in Yemen which includes
smugglers, kidnappers, and authorities of Yemen who kidnap, beat and torture
Ethiopian migrants and their families for money.
Estimated 500,000 Ethiopian were present in
Saudi-Arabia in 2017 when their deportation began to Ethiopia, they mostly
passed through Yemen. Even if they escaped the goons, more hardships were
waiting for them on the way due to the war in Yemen, and their migration used
to suspend due to continuous bombings.
8. Blocking the Resources
The coalition tried to capture the port
of Hudaydah in June 2018 which could have affected the supply and aid for
two-thirds of Yemen’s population but they were not able to succeed due to
interference of the UN. The coalition has stopped and diverted fuel tankers,
supplies, food, and aid to those areas which are controlled by Houthis. They
have kept the International airport of Sana’a closed since 2016.
The fuel which was needed to power the generators of hospital and electricity in homes were stopped. They also closed various ports that were needed to supply first aid and food to people. Houthis are not far behind when it comes to impending First aid to the people of Ta’izz which were heavily affected during the war of 2015.
9. Western Involvement
The eminent member of the UN found that
counties like the US, the UK and France are responsible for supplying arms and
providing intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition.
The parties in conflict have defended
them by not being accountable in breaking International Law despite proof of
their violations. In June 2019, The UK government agreed to suspend their arms
sales to Saudi Arabia after The UK court of Appeal ruled that the government's
refusal of ‘Saudi-Arabia’s use of arms on Yemen is a war crime’ is considered
as unlawful.
But, when it came upon the US to suspend
their sales to Saudi Arabia who are the largest weapon buyer from America, The
President used his veto power to continue to support Saudi. France is
pressurized to stop its sales to Saudi Arabia for arms.
10. Right to Life and Health
The people in Yemen do not have access to
their basic human rights such as peaceful living and first-aid protection. Only 1 in 4 people in Yemen have access to
clean water and sanitation which leads to other serious diseases such as
Cholera outbreak in 2017 which affected nearly 1 million people.
According
to the Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2020, more than 20 million people are
experiencing food scarcity and 10 million amongst them are on the risk of
famine including children and pregnant women.
Written By-
Chavi Goel
Edited by –
Adrija Saha
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