GCC welcomes UN decision to remove Saudi-led coalition from blacklist

The UN report on children and armed conflict – released last week – said the coalition was responsible for 60 per cent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year, and half the attacks on schools and hospitals.

Yemeni tribesmen supporting forces loyal to president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi hold a position in the area of Sirwah, west of Marib city, on December 18, 2015. Abdullah Al Qadry/AFP Photo

UNITED NATIONS // The GCC on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the UN to remove the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally-recognised government from a list of government forces accused of violations against children.

The UN report on children and armed conflict – released last week – said the coalition was responsible for 60 per cent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year, killing 510 and wounding 667, and half the attacks on schools and hospitals.

However, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed on Monday to a joint review by the world body and the coalition of the cases cited in the annual report of states and armed groups that violate children’s rights in war.

“The GCC values the UN Secretariat-General’s initiative to correct this administrative mistake in confirmation of the UN’s credibility and responsibility to preserve international security and peace,” GCC Secretary-General Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said.

He added that the coalition was committed to protecting Yemeni civilians including children.

Saudi Arabia has handed over 54 child prisoners – captured during fighting with the Houthis – to the the internationally recognised government, Yemen’s foreign minister Abdel-Malek Al Mekhlafi said on Tuesday.

Mr Al Mekhlafi said the release of the children, who were between the ages of 8 and 17, showed the government and its Saudi-led coalition ally “reject the Houthi crime of using children in war”.

Mr Ban’s spokesman said the coalition ha been removed from the list “pending the conclusions of the joint review.”

But Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador, Abdallah Al Mouallimi, said the removal of the coalition from the blacklist was “irreversible and unconditional.”

“We were wrongly placed on the list,” he said. “We know that this removal is final.”

Mr Mouallimi said the figures in the UN report were “wildly exaggerated” and that “the most up-to-date equipment in precision targeting” is used.

Saudi Arabia had not been consulted prior to the publication of this year’s report, Mt Al Mouallimi added.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Al Assiri said on Sunday that the UN had not based enough of its report on information supplied by the Yemeni government.

The Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power.

Some 6,000 people, about half of them civilians, have been killed in Yemen since last March, according to the UN.

The Houthis, Yemen government forces and pro-government militia have been on the UN blacklist for at least five years.

*Reuters and Wam