On April 20, 2016, the UN Secretary General put all parties to the conflict in Yemen: the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, Ansar Allah group (the Houthis), Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar Al-Sharia group, military forces loyal to the Hadi government, and the militias supported by the Hadi government, on the “List of Shame”, a list produced by the UN every year, which includes the perpetrators of the six serious violations against children.[1]
But on June 6, 2016, the UN Secretary General removed the Arab Coalition from the “list of shame,” pending the conclusions of the joint review of the cases and numbers cited in his annual report.[2]
Media reports say that Saudi Arabia and its allies warned they would pull hundreds of millions of dollars from U.N. programs if the Saudi-led Arab Coalition was singled out for killing and maiming children in Yemen.[3]
However, the unabated serious violations against Yemen’s children, and growing calls by rights groups, resulted on October 6, 2017 in an announcement by the UN, listing all parties to the conflict in Yemen on the “List of Shame”: a list produced by the UN Secretary General every year, which includes the perpetrators of the six serious violations against children.[4] The report of the Secretary General said that the United Nations verified that air strikes attributable to the Saudi-led Arab Coalition killed or injured 700 children and destroyed or damaged 40 Schools and hospitals.[5] Despite assurances from Saudi Arabia to improve its compliance with the laws of war, losses in children’s lives continued to rise with more airstrikes killing entire families[6].
[1]UN, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflicts for the year 2016http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=s/2016/360&referer=/english/&Lang=E
[2]UN Secretary General, Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict، https://goo.gl/v9Xy8Q.
[3] Foreign Policy, Saudi Arabia Threatened to Break Relations With U.N. Over Human Rights Criticism in Yemen, http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/07/saudi-arabia-threatened-to-break-relations-with-un-over-human-rights-criticism-in-yemen/.
[4]Human Rights Watch،UN ‘Blacklists’ Saudi-led Coalition for Violations against Children،https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/05/un-blacklists-saudi-led-coalition-violations-against-children.
[5]United Nations, the Report of the Secretary General on Children and Armed conflicts for the year 2017 http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/72/361&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC.
[6]Human Rights Watch, Yemen: Coalition Airstrikes Deadly for Children، https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/12/yemen-coalition-airstrikes-deadly-children.