A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Russia to Yemen
Category Archives: Yemen
Lawyers to submit Yemen war crimes dossier to UK police
Key figures in Saudi Arabia and UAE accused of crimes against humanity include investors in Britain
A group of human rights lawyers will on Wednesday file a legal complaint in the UK accusing key figures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of being involved in war crimes relating to the war in Yemen.
They plan to submit a dossier to British police and prosecutors alleging that about 20 members of the political and military elite of the two Gulf nations are guilty of crimes against humanity, and call for their immediate arrest should they enter the UK.
Continue reading...Rotting Red Sea oil tanker could leave 8m people without water
FSO Safer has been abandoned since 2017 and loss of its 1.1m barrels would destroy Yemen’s fishing stocks
The impact of an oil spill in the Red Sea from a tanker that is rotting in the water could be far wider than anticipated, with 8 million people losing access to running water and Yemen’s Red Sea fishing stock destroyed within three weeks.
Negotiations are under way to offload the estimated 1.1m barrels of crude oil that remains onboard the FSO Safer, which has been deteriorating by the month since it was abandoned in 2017. The vessel contains four times the amount of oil released by the Exxon Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska in 1989, and a spill is considered increasingly probable.
Continue reading...‘We have failed Yemen’: UN human rights council ends war crime probe
Defeat for western states as Bahrain, Russia and other nations push through vote to shut down investigations
Bahrain, Russia and other members of the UN human rights council have pushed through a vote to shut down the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for western states who sought to keep the mission going.
Members narrowly voted to reject a resolution led by the Netherlands to give the independent investigators another two years to monitor atrocities in Yemen’s conflict.
Continue reading...New UN envoy to Yemen urged to broaden talks to end civil war
Hans Grundberg must recognise more than two factions involved in conflict, says pro-independence group
The new UN special envoy to Yemen has been urged to broaden negotiations to end the country’s seven-year civil war and include the pro-independence Southern Transitional Council and other factions.
Speaking to the Guardian from Aden, the head of the STC foreign affairs directorate, Mohammed al-Ghaithi, said the UN must recognise that outdated security council resolutions were restricting their efforts.
Continue reading...16 million in Yemen ‘marching towards starvation’ as food rations run low – UN
Aid worker describes ‘horrific’ scenes in one hospital where starving and malnourished children ‘look like skeletons’
At least 5 million people in Yemen are on the brink of famine and a further 16 million are “marching toward starvation”, as the country’s humanitarian crisis spirals out of control.
The situation in Yemen, which has been torn apart by civil war, has been described as “rapidly deteriorating” by experts.
Continue reading...Yemen at war: conflict, chaos and rare joy – in pictures
Over the past four years, photographer Giles Clarke has reported from Yemen for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), documenting the tragedy of a country devastated by war but also the resilience of its people. The photojournalism festival Visa pour l’image is featuring his work at an exhibition in Perpignan, France
Continue reading...‘Lost generation’: education in quarter of countries at risk of collapse, study warns
Covid, climate breakdown, poverty and war threaten return to school after pandemic kept 1.5bn children out of classes
The education of hundreds of millions of children is hanging by a thread as a result of an unprecedented intensity of threats including Covid 19 and the climate crisis, a report warned today.
As classrooms across much of the world prepare to reopen after the summer holidays, a quarter of countries – most of them in sub-Saharan Africa – have school systems that are at extreme or high risk of collapse, according to Save the Children.
Continue reading...Saudi forces intercept ballistic missiles and drones fired from Yemen
The attack comes days after a drone strike on an airport in Saudi Arabia’s south left eight people wounded
Saudi Arabia has intercepted three ballistic missiles fired from neighbouring Yemen targeting the oil-rich Eastern province, as well as the cities of Najran and Jazan in the south, defence officials claimed.
Shrapnel from one of the missiles scattered over the city of Dammam, injuring two Saudi children and damaging 14 houses, according to the defence ministry.
Continue reading...Missile and drone attack kills at least 30 in south Yemen
At least three explosions took place at al-Anad airbase, officials said
A missile and drone attack on a key military base in south Yemen has killed at least 30 troops, a Yemeni military spokesman said. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s civil war in recent years.
Mohammed al-Naqib, the spokesman for Yemen’s southern forces, said the attack on Sunday on al-Anad airbase in the province of Lahj wounded at least 65. He said the casualty toll could rise since rescue teams were still clearing the site.
Continue reading...‘Devastating’: how UK’s foreign aid cuts could hurt the world’s poorest
Data analysis highlights the human cost if thousands of overseas projects lose funding
Experts have warned of “devastating” consequences of the UK’s foreign aid cuts after Guardian analysis revealed the UK is cutting funding at a time when major recipient countries are at risk of becoming more politically unstable.
Thousands of activities providing life-saving support are being cut due to the government’s decision to reduce aid spending to 0.5% of gross national income.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Arab democracies: the least worst option | Editorial
Benevolent dictatorship is not the answer to the region’s real problems
This week has shown that Arab regimes are tough on dissent, but much less interested in its causes. This will create problems for years to come as these states struggle to recover from the pandemic. Tunisia’s presidential power grab is a test for Joe Biden’s democracy and human rights agenda. War has impoverished ancient centres of Arab civilisation. The UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia this week pointed out that poverty now affects 88% of the population in Syria and 83% in Yemen. Even nations once considered wealthy have been brought low by an unhappy meeting of leadership failures and Covid-19. Lebanon’s leaders are begging for foreign assistance after the local currency plummeted in value and the population ran short of food, fuel and medicine.
The Arab world is a varied place. The latest UN survey shows it diverging into wealthy Gulf absolute monarchies; a set of middle-income countries with more people than their oil reserves can comfortably afford; war zones in some of the largest nations such as Iraq; and very poor states. The oil-rich sheikhdoms are pulling ahead and using their financial and military clout to extend their influence, often with disastrous results. The Arab region, says the UN, hosts more than six million refugees and more than 11 million internally displaced persons. There is little coordinated action to deal with the numerous social challenges, including growing poverty, increased unemployment and persistent gender inequalities. Food insecurity has spread. One can be too downcast: the UN hopes for a silver lining in the prospect of peace in Libya.
Continue reading...Yemenis tell UK defence secretary of ‘immense loss’ to drone strikes
Exclusive: ‘They are not collateral damage’ – bereaved families appeal for meeting to learn of UK’s role in killings
Relatives of people killed in drone strikes in Yemen have written to the defence secretary to ask about UK involvement in the killings and request that he meet them.
The family members said they have suffered “immense loss” of loved ones – including children – at the hands of US targeted drone strikes and are demanding to know what part the UK has played.
Continue reading...The Observer view on Iran’s rigged presidential election | Observer editorial
It is not only Iranians who will suffer if a hardliner wins, it could have profound consequences for world peace
Iran’s beleaguered voters do not have much of a choice in this Friday’s presidential election. The regime, dominated by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a fiercely anti-western conservative, has cynically manipulated the contest to ensure that a like-minded hardliner, most probably Ebrahim Raisi, head of the judiciary, wins.
While the result is hardly a cliff-hanger, its impact may nonetheless be far-reaching – in Iran and internationally. The possibly negative consequences for talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear programme, for peaceful relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the west, for the wars in Syria and Yemen, for the geopolitical balance and for Iran’s own citizens are alarming.
Continue reading...Mysterious airbase being built on volcanic island off Yemen
Military officials in Yemen say UAE is building runway on Mayun Island, a crucial shipping chokepoint
A mysterious airbase is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for energy shipments and commercial cargo.
While no country has claimed the Mayun Island airbase in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 3.5-mile-long island years ago links back to the United Arab Emirates.
Continue reading...Why Yemen’s civil war is about to get worse – video explainer
More than six years after Houthi rebels seized Yemen's capital and forced its government into exile, a bloody civil war still rages across the country. Despite a Saudi-led bombing campaign that has destroyed Yemeni infrastructure and crippled its economy, the Houthis remain in control of most of the country's population centres.
The Guardian's Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, explains why a new Houthi offensive could heap more misery on the millions of civilians caught in the crossfire
- Yemen war: mass displacement fears as fighting intensifies in Marib
- Yemen condemns international donor funding shortfall as UK cuts aid
- War and famine could wipe out the next generation of Yemenis
Hidden scars: mentally ill patients lost in Yemen’s war
With one psychiatrist for 750,000 people and huge stigma about mental health, patients get little help
Radhwan Ali Hassan lives with his mother in a small house perched at the top of a sleepy Yemeni village called Aqeeqah, on the outskirts of Taiz city. From inside his bare-walled room, the 35-year-old hears the distant sound of an ice-cream van. He sees children running past his window and can smell goats, but he cannot remember the last time he walked outside.
Thick metal shackles around his ankles are attached to a heavy chain fastened to the far wall. They clatter as Hassan paces his room, rocks from side to side and smiles vacantly. His pupils are wide, his movements slow.
Continue reading...UK aid cuts will put tens of thousands of children at risk of famine, says charity
Save the Children’s analysis finds Britain will spend 80% less on nutrition abroad this year, as hunger levels rise around the world
Britain is set to spend 80% less on helping feed children in poorer nations than before the pandemic, according to a charity’s analysis.
Save the Children said the British government will spend less than £26m this year on vital nutrition services in developing countries, a drop of more than three-quarters from 2019. The estimate of aid cuts to nutrition comes after UN agencies called for urgent action to avert famine in 20 countries including Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria.
Continue reading...Hopes for Yemen peace deal fade as ‘obscene’ Marib death toll rises
UN fears ceasefire talks have stalled after rebel leaders came close to accepting deal before rejecting it
The UN fears that hopes for a ceasefire in Yemen are effectively stalled until either the Houthi rebels choose to end their military offensive or decide the mounting death toll running into tens of thousands is unacceptable. The Houthis are currently driving towards the capture of the strategic and oil-rich governorate of Marib.
Extensive talks in April and May, including direct discussions between the Houthi leadership and Saudis in Oman, ended with the Houthis – also known as Ansar Allah – coming close to accepting a ceasefire deal before ultimately rejecting the offer.
Continue reading...Britain’s aid cuts: what’s been announced so far
Some programmes will have their funding cut by 85% or more as the UK reduces its spending
Britain announced last year that it would cut aid spending from 0.7% of national income to 0.5% – a reduction of more than £4bn. The cuts are not split evenly, with some programmes having funding reduced by 85% or more.
The Foreign Office said it would still spend more than £10bn this year to fight poverty, tackle the climate crisis and improve global health and would return to its 0.7% target when economic circumstances allowed – but it did not give a date or criteria for this. Among the cuts so far are:
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