UN slammed for taking Saudi coalition off blacklist
Campaigners have criticised the UN for removing the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen from a list of groups violating children's rights, adding that the coalition had been responsible for the death or injury of 222 children last year.
"The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen will be delisted for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease in killing and maiming due to air strikes," said the UN's newly-published annual report on children in conflict zones, adding that the death toll had fallen since an agreement signed in March 2019.
The report was issued as Houthi rebels reported that an airstrike from the Saudi-led coalition struck a vehicle carrying civilians in northern Yemen on Monday, killing 13 people, including four children.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced Guterres for dropping the coalition from the "list of shame," saying he was "ignoring the UN's own evidence of continued grave violations against children."
Inger Ashing of Save the Children called it a "shocking decision" by Guterres.
HRW and the Watchlist also criticised the secretary-general for leaving Israel off the blacklist despite it being responsible for 1,525 casualties among Palestinian children last year, including 29 deaths.
The report, which reviews several conflicts worldwide each year, said 4,019 children were verified as having been killed and more than 6,000 maimed in 2019. The numbers were similar to 2018, according to the UN.
The report also partially removed the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's armed forces, from the blacklist. They no longer appear for recruitment of children but remain on the list for sexual violence, killing, and maiming.
Save the Children described the move as "premature and dangerous".
Comments