Arab Coalition Media Under-secretaries Meet In Riyadh

Arab Coalition media under-secretaries meet in Riyadh

RIYADH, (Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2018) The Under-Secretaries of the Ministries of Media of the Member States of the Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen held a meeting today in Riyadh, to discuss ways of coordinating their media efforts and providing media support.

Dr. Khalid bin Abdulqader Al Ghamdi, Under-Secretary of the Saudi Ministry of Information for Foreign Media, stated that the meeting aims to support the media efforts of the legitimate government of Yemen, to counter the media of the Houthi militias and Iran, as well as to agree on a joint media discourse for coalition countries, improve their cooperation and coordination, develop joint mechanisms to counter hostile media, and support the media institutions of coalition countries to achieve this objective.

Al Ghamdi noted that the meeting coincides with an important phase of the Yemeni crisis, after the failure of the Human Rights Council to adopt a joint resolution on the situation in Yemen, and in light of the lack of cooperation from the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg and Ireland, and their insistence on not considering the remarks of relevant countries regarding the report of the group of regional and international experts, which contained many discrepancies and contradicted United Nations Security Council resolutions on Yemen.

He also pointed out that the council’s decision to extend the mandate of the experts in Yemen for another year was made, despite obvious divisions, as it was passed with the approval of less than half of the council’s members, was not approved by the relevant country, and does not respect its sovereign right to decide on an international resolution on the human rights situation in its territories.

Al Ghamdi said that the Arab Group insisted on presenting a draft resolution calling upon the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue providing technical assistance and building the capacities of the legitimate Yemeni government and the National Yemeni Investigation Committee, under Article 10 of the Human Rights Council Agenda, which was approved by the council’s member countries and the relevant country, which expressed its willingness to implement it.

Mohammed Jalal Alrayssi, Executive Director of the Emirates news Agency, WAM, and Representative of the UAE at the meeting, thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the event and for its hospitality, while adding that the meeting was successful and its participants worked to agree on joint mechanisms to support the joint media discourse of Arab coalition member countries and their coordination to broadcast the truth, as well as the role of the Arab Coalition in achieving stability and security in Yemen.