The British government has faced repeated calls to ban weapon sales to Saudi Arabia since reports emerged alleging that the country was guilty of severe breaches of worldwide humanitarian law.
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Earlier, a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders – which said it had informed the Saudi government of its location and was given safe clearance to operate – was struck leaving more than a dozen dead.
Oxfam accused Britain of going from being an “enthusiastic backer” of the Arms Trade Treaty to “one of the most significant violators” and is expected to raise the issue of sales to Saudi Arabia at the second conference of states party to the treaty in Geneva today. In addition to adhering to the treaty, advocates want greater transparency regarding arms deals that are made.
France authorised $18 billion (16 billion euros) in weapons sales to Saudi Arabi past year, Control Arms said in a report this month.
The United States approved arms deals with Riyadh worth $5.9 billion in 2015, while for Britain the figure was $4.0 billion.
But Yemen’s security forces themselves have split loyalties, with some backing Mr Hadi, and others the Houthis and Mr Hadi’s predecessor – the still-influential Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Saudi-backed government forces there are battling both Shia insurgents and the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
And the emergence in late 2014 of a Yemen affiliate of the jihadist group Islamic State, which seeks to eclipse AQAP, has further complicated the deadly ongoing scenario.
Yemen crisis: Who is fighting whom?
“Widespread condemnation of attacks on hospitals and schools by worldwide institutions shows, on the one hand, that the world can not forever remain silent in the face of aggression and tyranny”, the Iranian diplomat said, adding “and on the other, Saudi’s disregard of such warnings is indicative of the ineffectiveness of the Security Council in stopping the Saudi regime”.
“How can the government insist that others abide by a treaty it helped set up if it flagrantly ignores it?”.
The BBC reported a government spokeswoman as saying that the United Kingdom has taken its arms trade responsibilities “very seriously” and has been strictly following the rules.
“The key test for our continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in relation to worldwide humanitarian law (IHL) is whether there is a clear risk that those weapons might be used in a serious violation of IHL”, the spokesperson added.
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“These attacks and policies represent a flagrant provocation to the feelings of Muslims for being continuing assault on religious rights in Al-Aqsa Holy Mosque, the violation of all global conventions and the principles of human rights, increasing the deterioration of the situation and its complication and undermining the chances for peace, renewing the Kingdom s call on the United Nations Security Council to move quickly to put an end to all Israeli violations and systematic crimes against the Palestinian people”, the minister said.
