Arab Coalition Carries Message Of Peace, Building, Development In Yemen: Officials, Human Rights Specialists To WAM

Arab Coalition carries message of peace, building, development in Yemen: Officials, human rights specialists to WAM

ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 09th Sep, 2018) Officials and human rights specialists participating in an international seminar about Yemen, which was held by the Journalists Association today in Abu Dhabi under the title "The Team of Experts’ Report: Exacerbating the Violations and the Continuation of Suffering," affirmed that the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, carries a message of peace, building and development in Yemen.

They said, in statements to the Emirates news Agency, WAM, on the sidelines of the seminar, that the United Nations report by a team of experts on human rights in Yemen lacks the minimum standards of objectivity and accuracy and was biased, while pointing out that it neglected the violations of Houthi militias and the leading humanitarian role performed by the Arab Coalition Mohammed Al Hammadi, Chairman of the UAE Journalists Association, said that the member countries of the Arab Coalition have a leading humanitarian history, while pointing out that they are building, developing and promoting peace in Yemen, as well as championing legitimacy and confronting the greed of the militias. He added that the seminar, organised by the association, aims to clarify the imbalance in the report, while noting that it is involved with leading regional and international figures in the area of human rights.

Nabil Abdul Hafiz, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights of Yemen, said that the goal of the legitimate government aims to achieve peace in Yemen, and is dealing positively with relevant UN initiatives, the latest of which is the Geneva negotiations, which is being met by intransigence by the militias.

He added that the UN’s recent human rights report included many inaccuracies and is a politicised report that lacks impartiality, while pointing out that the legitimate Yemeni government recently announced its complete rejection of the report and is working on an official response, which will be sent to the UN.

He explained that the report’s inaccuracies included the fact that it called the Houthi militias the "de facto authority" that controls the majority of Yemen, despite the fact that the legitimate Yemeni government controls some 90 percent of the country.

He added that the report deliberately neglected the leading humanitarian role of the Arab Coalition and the humanitarian initiatives launched by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which aim to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people. He further added that that the report mentioned the presence of obstacles that prevent the arrival of humanitarian aid, but the legitimate Yemeni government has 22 ports where aid is being delivered. He, therefore, asked where these obstacles exist.

Issa Al Arabi, Chairman of the Arab Human Rights Union, highlighted the necessity of forming a team of international human rights and law experts to study and refute the report, while pointing out that the report’s outcomes were biased and exceeded its mandate.

He added the report described the Yemeni crisis as a struggle for authority, which is a clear disregard of UN Resolution No. 2216.

Ayman Nasri, Head of the Ecumenical Alliance for Human Rights in Geneva, stated that the report is politicised and contained information from organisations that lack integrity and transparency, while pointing out that the report did not mention the violations of the Houthi militias, such as recruiting children and targeting civilians with IEDs.

He also highlighted the necessity of strengthening cooperation between local and international human rights organisations, while stressing that the new session of the UN General Assembly will include many discussion on human rights in Yemen, as a complaint will be presented that will request a re-assessment of the report, to make it more objective and include the violations of the Houthi militias in Yemen.