Saudi Arabia, the government of Yemen and other governments from the Arab region, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), succeeded in censoring any and all discussion on atrocities committed in Yemen at the 57th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council). In recent years the Arab Group has aggressively suppressed action by the Council on multiple human rights crises within the Middle East and North Africa.
Tens of millions of Yemen citizens remain imperiled by one of the world’s largest “man-made” humanitarian disasters. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), along with Yemeni and international rights organizations, have warned that impunity continues to fuel violence in the country, and have repeatedly called for the establishment of an international investigation into human rights violations. A recent large-scale campaign of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention carried out by Houthi militias against human rights defenders, humanitarian workers, UN staff and others has worsened the critical humanitarian situation and undermined UN efforts to provide support and assistance within the country.
For several years, a lack of leadership to protect victims in Yemen at the Council has allowed Saudi Arabia, the Arab Group and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to dictate the terms of a “technical assistance” resolution on Yemen. This role has been used by the Arab Group not only to block a UN investigation but also to veto any formal debate on the situation at the Council and block dedicated reporting by the UN on the human rights crises in the country.
According to Jeremie Smith, Director of the Geneva Office of CIHRS, “The resolution put forward by the Arab Group and adopted this session represents a betrayal of the Yemeni people. A lack of leadership to uphold international law in Yemen by all UN member states has allowed those accused of war crimes to silence the voices of victims and represents one of, if not the largest failure of the Human Rights Council since its establishment. It is time for states to begin to address this failure.”
At the same session, Sudan and members of the Arab Group failed in attempts to block a resolution to renew a UN Fact Finding Mission (FFM) into widespread atrocity crimes being committed throughout Sudan. The FFM, established by the Council in October of last year after calls from global civil society, was renewed in large part due to strong leadership of several countries on the resolution, including the UK and Germany, and the refusal of Sub-Saharan African countries to vote against the renewal. This included votes by South Africa and Ghana in favor and abstentions by Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gambia and Malawi. All Arab Group member states of the Human Rights Council (Morocco, Kuwait, Sudan and the UAE) voted against the resolution, except Algeria who abstained. Significantly, in what has become a rare act at the Council, South Africa voted in favor of a non-consensual resolution on an African country, and cited the dangers of “foreign intervention” to justify its position, a likely reference to the UAE’s military support to armed groups accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity within Sudan.
“The vote on Sudan demonstrates that the Council can still take effective action to protect victims in situations like Yemen where the Arab Group opposes action – but committed leadership matters, as does the willingness of countries from all regions to place the welfare of victims above political appeasement,” said Mr. Smith.
On the same day the Sudan resolution was adopted in Geneva, Saudi Arabia lost its bid to become a member state of the UN Human Rights Council during a vote at the UN General Assembly in New York. A coalition of civil society had called on states to refrain from electing Saudi Arabia due to its involvement in war crimes in Yemen, its brutal repression of human rights defenders and journalists, including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and its severe discrimination against women. Despite its well-funded campaign, Saudi Arabia came in last within the Asia-Pacific Slate among states running for membership on the Council (Thailand – 177, Qatar – 167, Cyprus – 167, Republic of Korea – 161, Marshall Islands – 124, Saudi Arabia – 117).
The recent report by the UN Independent International Mechanism of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI-OPT) is a stark reminder of the ongoing failure of the Human Rights Council and international community to ensure accountability for grave human rights violations and war crimes committed against the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon. The Commission has documented Israel’s “concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza…constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and the crime against humanity of extermination.”
Despite these alarming findings, many states at the Human Rights Council continue to neglect their obligations under international law concerning the situation in Gaza or, in the case of several states such as the United States, Germany and others, have continued to provide aid and political support that enables further violations and prolongs a cycle of violence and oppression. We call on the Human Rights Council to take action to uphold the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion concerning Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. In particular, the Council must address the obligations of third states to refrain from any military or economic support that prolongs or contributes to violations carried out by Israel in the OPT and strengthen the ability of the COI-OPT to carry out timely investigations into violations in the OPT or by third party states.
The 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva was held from 9 September 2024 until 11 October. During the session, CIHRS participated in discussions on the human rights situation in five Arab countries (Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Yemen) through seven oral interventions before the Council. CIHRS also organized and co-sponsored three side events on the sidelines of the session, on the situations in Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain.
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