Human cost of Yemen war laid bare as civilian deaths near 100,000 // UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia unlawful, court of appeal declares
As the court of
appeal prepares to rule on the legitimacy of the British government’s
continued supply of weapons to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, new
figures show the conflict’s death toll is fast approaching the 100,000 mark. With no clear
resolution in sight, the extent of civilian casualties caused by direct
targeting as the war with Houthi rebels enters its fifth year has been outlined
in a report by
the the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled).
The project claims to
provide the most comprehensive evaluation of the war to date, extending its
previous research into fatalities to cover the start of the Yemen conflict in March
2015 through to the present day, Clionadh Raleigh,
Acled’s executive director, said the data provided “an estimate of the war’s
true toll for the first time”. “The data is both a
tool and a warning,” said Raleigh. “The international community must use it to
help understand, monitor, and ultimately resolve the conflict before the
situation spirals even further out of control.”
The figures for
earlier years paint a similarly distressing picture. In 2015, 7,700 events
caused 17,100 deaths, while the following year 8,700 events caused 15,100
death. In 2017, 7,900 events caused 16,800 deaths, bringing the total number of
events to 39,700 and cumulative fatalities to 91,600.
The deliberate targeting of civilians, which both sides continue to deny, is outlawed by the Geneva conventions. Since 2015, Acled has recorded 4,500 direct civilian targeting events that led to approximately 11,700 reported deaths. Acled found that the Saudi-led coalition and its allies were responsible for 67% (over 8,000) of such fatalities, with the Houthis and their allies responsible for over 16% (1,900)... read more:
The deliberate targeting of civilians, which both sides continue to deny, is outlawed by the Geneva conventions. Since 2015, Acled has recorded 4,500 direct civilian targeting events that led to approximately 11,700 reported deaths. Acled found that the Saudi-led coalition and its allies were responsible for 67% (over 8,000) of such fatalities, with the Houthis and their allies responsible for over 16% (1,900)... read more:
UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia unlawful, court of appeal declares
The court of appeal has declared British arms sales to Saudi Arabia unlawful because they contri-buted to civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing in Yemen. The ruling from three senior judges follows a challenge brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade, which had accused the UK government of licensing the sale of arms when there was a clear risk that their use could breach international humanitarian law.
In its judgment in
London on Thursday, the court of appeal ruled that “the process of
decision-making by the government was wrong in law in one significant respect”. Announcing the court’s
decision the master of the rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, sitting with Lord Justice
Irwin and Lord Justice Singh, said the government “made no concluded
assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of
international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict, and made
no attempt to do so”. However, he added:
“The decision of the court today does not mean that licences to export arms to
Saudi Arabia must immediately be suspended.” Future risks of
breaches of humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition must be assessed by
ministers when deciding whether to allow arms sales, in the context of past
behaviour, the court said... read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jun/20/uk-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-for-use-in-yemen-declared-unlawful
