Pak Sahafat – The Saudi coalition’s repeated military strikes on Yemen over the past seven years have not only challenged the foundations of international order, but are one of the most obvious examples of human rights abuses in the world.
The impoverished country in the region has been experiencing one of the worst human rights crises in the world since the formation of the Arab-American coalition and the invasion of Yemen in Operation Storm of Determination on March 26, 2015.
Even the two-month ceasefire agreement reached on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan has been violated more than a thousand times a week by the Saudi coalition, as the Yemeni army media unit announced a few days ago: “In the first week of the ceasefire, the Saudi coalition violated 1,647 humanitarian and military ceasefires in Yemen.”
Seven years have passed since the violation of human rights in Yemen
The member states of the Saudi-led Arab League, as they have shown in practice that they do not believe in human rights within their borders, consider themselves unnecessary to adhere to this principle in the international arena.
In the last days of March, Saudi Arabia arrested 81 people, including seven Yemeni nationals and a Syrian national, along with 73 other citizens on charges of “having misconceptions, deviant beliefs, intelligence cooperation with ISIL, al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Yamin, and acting against public security and inciting riots.” Hours after the Saudi Interior Ministry announced the mass execution; the Saudi opposition media revealed that half of them were Shiites.
During that inhumane incident in Saudi Arabia, the West, especially the United States, has shown that it has always used a double standard in the face of human rights, turning a blind eye to the largest mass executions by Al Saud in decades, and economic benefits to allies.
The West has also remained silent on human rights abuses and the killing of innocent Yemenis by the Arab League that the extent of this seven-year crime can be seen in a report published by the Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in March 2004 in a report entitled “Study of the human rights situation in Yemen on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the Saudi coalition invasion.”
According to the report, the Yemeni war, which began with the Saudi coalition invasion in 2015, has led to one of the biggest human rights crises in the world.
Despite various instances of systematic and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen, the dimensions of this tragedy are not widely publicized. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, through petrodollar diplomacy, are blocking the UN Human Rights Council from paying serious attention to the Yemeni crisis’s human rights record.
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In this regard, several international human rights organizations have stopped their human rights activities in the wake of the Yemeni crisis on the orders of the UN Human Rights Council. In addition, journalists face various challenges in producing accurate and documented reports, including detention and torture.
The report predicts that if the Yemeni war continues by 2030, the death toll will reach 1.3 million: “To help end the crisis, take measures such as holding international summits and meetings at the summit, sending humanitarian aid and medical services, producing short films for international festivals on the dire human rights situation in Yemen, activating international media diplomacy and activating diplomacy.”
Saudi coalition in the swamp of Yemen
The Saudi coalition is trapped in the Yemeni quagmire to this day, despite successive bombings and the killing of the Yemeni people, so that there is no way forward and no way back. The defeat became even more apparent when, a few weeks ago, they withdrew their support for ousted and fugitive President Abd al-Mansour Hadi, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finally, in the first month of the eighth year of aggression against Yemen, Hadi and Mohsen al-Ahmar forced his deputy to step down and hand over power to a seven-member council called the Presidential Leadership Council.
During this period, as the war eroded, some Saudi allies withdrew from the coalition, and differences between coalition members became more apparent. For example, the UAE has now transformed from an old ally into a rival to Riyadh in southern Yemen. In addition, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have begun fierce competition in the Persian Gulf for influence in the West Asian region and other parts of the world; A competition that extends from East Asia to Africa.
From the observers’ point of view, the composition of the seven-member council shows that the rotation of the elected members this time is in favor of the Emirati people, and the presence of the Emirati affiliates in the council is four to three compared to the Saudi affiliates. This means that although bin Salman has tried to oust the UAE in order to attract the attention of the Emirati people, the diversity of views in the new council has the potential to provoke new and, of course, unresolved differences for the Saudi withdrawal from the Yemeni quagmire.
Experts believe that the election of Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, a close ally of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and a prominent member of the Yemeni National Congress party, shows that Muslims and, of course, the Emirati people are trying to return to pre-calculated conditions.
Now, after the Yemeni war has crossed the seven-year mark and the apparent failure of the coalition, Al-Saud and other coalition leaders are expected to come to terms with reality; This issue was also mentioned by the Supreme Leader of the Revolution in a meeting with officials and agents of the regime on April 13, and in his compassionate and benevolent advice to the Saudi officials, he said: “Why are you continuing the war in which you know you have no chance of winning? Find a way out of this battle.”
Moreover, how long do the international human rights organizations and the Western countries whose claims have deafened the ears of the world want to keep their eyes closed on all these human tragedies and not take an effective practical step to end the oppressive war against an oppressed and defenseless nation?