UN set to blacklist Saudi-led coalition

The United Nations has moved to put the Saudi-led coalition on its annual blacklist of child rights' violators for the killing and maiming of children in Yemen, according to a draft report obtained by AFP on Wednesday.

After a similar move infuriated Saudi Arabia last year, the latest draft report placed the coalition on a separate section of the list of shame, which noted that measures had been taken to improve the protection of children.

"In Yemen, the coalition's actions objectively led to the listing for the killing and maiming of children, with 683 child casualties attributed to this party, and, as a result of being responsible for 38 verified incidents, for attacks on schools and hospitals during 2016," said the draft report.

Yemen's government forces, pro-government militias, the Huthi rebels and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were also blacklisted, the draft said.

The final report and the list, contained in an annex, was to be sent to the Security Council yesterday before its public release today. The council will hold a debate on children and armed conflict on October 31.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after Iran-backed Huthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera causing more than 2,000 deaths.