A UN statement said that the Secretary-General has accepted a Saudi proposal for a joint UN-Saudi review of the cases and numbers in the report, and had invited the coalition to send representatives to the UN headquarters in NY to begin discussions.
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Saudi Arabia had reacted with outrage to the coalition’s inclusion, with the Saudi ambassador to the UN, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, saying he was “deeply disappointed” and “disturbed”.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday agreed to remove a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen from a blacklist of militant organizations the global body says are complicit in numerous child human rights abuses – at least pending the outcome of further investigation.
Last week’s United Nations report said the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen in 2015, killing 510 and wounding 667.
“If there are any casualties from the coalition side, they would be far, far lower”, he said, adding that it used “the most up-to-date equipment in precision targeting”.
“Pending the conclusions of the joint review, the secretary-general removes the listing of the coalition in the report’s annex”, a spokesman for Ban said Monday.
It said the casualty figures were “wildly exaggerated”.
Just under half of the 101 verified attacks on schools and hospitals were attributed to the coalition.
The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and other monitoring agencies have also criticised the Houthis for what they describe as indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas and the use of child soldiers.
He accused the secretary-general’s office of engaging in “political manipulation” and tainting his human rights legacy.
“After giving a similar pass to Israel past year, the United Nations secretary general’s office has hit a new low by capitulating to Saudi Arabia’s brazen pressure and taking the country off its just published list of shame”, said the US-based group’s deputy director for global advocacy, Philippe Bolopion.
There was no immediate word on how many children are held prisoner by the Saudi-backed government or by Houthi rebels and their allies.
The war has left some 6,400 people dead, according to the UN.
Brigadier General Ahmed bin Hasan Asiri, a consultant at the Defence Minister’s Office and spokesman for the coalition forces, explained that the United Nations report which was issued yesterday does not help the consultations now taking place in Kuwait.
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He said the Arab Parliament closely follows the humanitarian and ethical aspects of Operation Restoring Hope and the Arab Coalition’s efforts to provide aid to Yemeni people, and children in particular.
