Instead of an independent inquiry, UN investigators will be attached to Yemeni inquiry, which some say is substandard
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have fended off the threat of an independent UN-sanctioned inquiry into human rights abuses in Yemen, but have been forced to accept that UN investigators will be tasked with documenting rights violations.
The tortuous compromise, after days of behind-the-scenes negotiations at the UN human rights council in Geneva, was described by Human Rights Watch and the EU as a limited step forward. Others said it represented a flagrant failure of accountability.
Salma Amer, the UN advocacy officer at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said the text “puts Saudi Arabia’s desire for impunity above the need to protect the people of Yemen”.
Calls for an international inquiry had been led by the Netherlands and supported by most EU states, including the UK. The outcome underlines Saudi determination not to be put in the dock over its widely criticised bombing campaign, which it began in March 2015 in an attempt to fight Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
In his speech to the Labour party conference on Wednesday, Jeremy Corbyn called for an end to UK arms sales to Riyadh in view of allegations of indiscriminate bombing, which activists say is has repeatedly hit civilian as well as military sites.
The compromise deal struck on Thursday will involve UN investigators being attached to an existing Yemen national commission inquiry into human rights abuses. The commission has been condemned as partial, slow and failing to meet acceptable international legal standards.
