“[Civilians in Yemen] continue to suffer, absent any form of accountability and justice, while those responsible for the violations and abuses against them enjoy impunity”, High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said today in a news release issued by his office (OHCHR).
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The UN human rights office on Thursday called for the creation of an global body to investigate Saudi-led coalition air strikes over human rights violations, including attacks on protected sites such as hospitals.
“We are investigating, monitoring the violations but we can not decide that this a crime or not, this is for a tribunal or for a specific body to decide”.
Zeid, who is also a member of the Jordanian royal family, did not specify who would set up the global body, but he is expected to present the report’s findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council at its session next month.
It further noted that the High Commissioner also urged all parties to the conflict to work towards a negotiated and durable solution to the conflict in the best interest of the Yemeni people and to ensure full respect for global humanitarian law.
Fighting escalated in March 2015 with the start of Saudi-led airstrikes. The U.N. and rights groups estimate at least 9,000 people overall have died.
Millions of people across the country lack food, clean water and adequate healthcare.
According to the report, airstrikes by the Saudi-led, US -backed coalition were responsible for 60 percent of the 2,067 civilians killed in the conflict over a year-long span starting on July 1, 2015.
The report also said that Houthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have also carried out violations in the war-torn country such as rocket and mortar attacks on residential areas and using landmines.
Saudi Arabia lobbied hard to weigh in on language included in a draft of the United Nations report before its release, and Yemen’s foreign minister recently traveled to Geneva to press the government’s case to diplomats.
Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition were suspected of causing around half of all civilian deaths, while attacks by groups affiliated with the rebels were blamed for around a quarter of the deaths, Thursday’s report said.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with Saudi Arabia’s powerful deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, into the early hours of Thursday morning aimed at finding ways to end Yemen’s conflict and resume peace talks between the warring sides.
