Saudi Arabia Resists Independent Inquiry on Yemen Atrocities

By SOMINI SENGUPTA SEPT. 26, 2017

UNITED NATIONS — Saudi Arabia and its allies are pushing back on a renewed effort to establish a United Nations-backed independent international panel to investigate human rights abuses in Yemen.

A draft resolution, proposed by a small bloc of Western countries, seeks to create a commission of inquiry, similar to one for the conflict in Syria, to document the atrocities in a three-year-old conflict that pits a Saudi-led military coalition against insurgents led by the Houthis of northern Yemen. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, has called for exactly such an independent investigation. So have Yemeni and international human rights groups.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have objected, proposing instead that the United Nations send experts to help Yemen’s own human rights commission.

A vote is expected this week at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Saudi Arabia and its Western backers, including Britain and the United States, all belong to the 47-member body.

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