UK, France, US Lack 'Political Courage' To Pressure Saudi Arabia Over Yemeni Crisis - HRW

Sumaira FH Published November 14, 2018 | 08:42 PM

London, Paris and Washington are lacking "political courage" to pressure Saudi Arabia over the actions of Riyadh-led coalition in the Yemeni conflict and to ensure that Riyadh is held accountable, Bruno Stagno-Ugarte, the deputy executive director for advocacy at Human Rights Watch told Sputnik.

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2018) London, Paris and Washington are lacking "political courage" to pressure Saudi Arabia over the actions of Riyadh-led coalition in the Yemeni conflict and to ensure that Riyadh is held accountable, Bruno Stagno-Ugarte, the deputy executive director for advocacy at Human Rights Watch told Sputnik.

"[There is] the absence of political courage in Western capitals, in particular, in basically putting more pressure on Saudi Arabia and the UAE in terms of not taking these Yemeni civilians as hostages of this incredibly dire humanitarian embargo that they have imposed on Yemen ... Unfortunately London, Paris and Washington have made it easy on Saudi Arabia trying to avoid accountability," Stagno-Ugarte said.

According to the HRW deputy executive director for advocacy, Western nations, with the exception of the Netherlands and Canada, were not particularly "enthused with the idea of having an independent international commission looking into alleged war crimes" in Yemen.

According to a report issued in August, UN experts found that all sides in Yemeni conflict may be responsible for war crimes.

Stagno-Ugarte stressed that "there has not been a sufficient concern for the cholera epidemic, the famine, the humanitarian embargo, but also the many war crimes that have been committed by all sides, the inability to really have credible investigations in the alleged war crimes committed by all sides."

The Saudi-led coalition is backing the government of the country in its clash with the Houthi movement. In particular, the coalition has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen.

Rights groups have criticized the Saudi-led coalition, while the European Parliament urged for an arms embargo on Riyadh in a resolution passed in late October.