Full text of the oral video statement (.pdf) (ENG)
Full Interactive Dialogue with the Group of Experts on Yemen
Video Intervention: Check against delivery
Organization: Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Item: Item 2: Interactive Dialogue, Group of Experts on Yemen
Date: 29 September 2020
Speaker: Catherine Morris
Oral Statement to the 45th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), NGO in special consultative status
Mme. President,
The report of the Group of Experts on Yemen[1] documents continuing unlawful killings; destruction of food, water, sanitation, and health infrastructure; restrictions on humanitarian access; recruitment or use of children in hostilities; enforced disappearances; arbitrary detention; torture; rape; and other crimes.[2] Parties to the conflict also target journalists, lawyers, and defenders, including women defenders, to repress dissent.[3]
The Experts conclude that, “[t]he parties to the conflict continued to show no regard for international law…, while third States [Canada, France, Iran, the US and the UK] have helped to perpetuate the conflict by continuing to supply the parties with weapons”[4] in contravention of international law[5] and the Experts’ 2019 recommendation to “refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict.”[6]
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada calls on the Council to:
- Renew the Experts’ mandate with sufficient resources for its effective fulfilment;
- Seek Security Council referral of the Yemen conflict to the International Criminal Court;
- Support an international, impartial and independent mechanism to conduct further investigations and prepare cases for purposes of prosecution; and
- Adopt a resolution requiring the named States – Canada, France, Iran, the US and the UK – to immediately cease arms transfers to any of the parties to the conflict.
Thank you.
[1] Situation of human rights in Yemen, including violations and abuses since September 2014. Comprehensive report of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, A/HRC/45/6, 14 September 2020, . https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=26218&LangID=E.
[2] Ibid at paras. 14, 21, 30, 31-36, 45, 59, 72, and 79.
[3] Ibid at para 80.
[4] Ibid, p. 1 Summary and para. 25.
[5] Éric David, Daniel Turp, Brian Wood and Valentina Azarova, Opinion on the International Legality of Arms Transfers to Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates and Other Members of the Coalition Militarily Involved in Yemen, December 2019, IPIS, https://ipisresearch.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/191209-Yemen-EN_WEB-2.pdf.
[6] Situation of human rights in Yemen, including violations and abuses since September 2014 Report of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts as submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, A/HRC/42/17, 9 August 2019, para. 99(b) https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/GEE-Yemen/A_HRC_42_17.docx.
