UN to send war crimes investigators to Yemen

The UN Human Rights Council agreed Friday to send war crimes investigators to Yemen, overcoming resistance from Saudi Arabia, which had fought to head off an independent international probe. In a resolution adopted by consensus, the council mandated UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to send a group of “eminent experts” to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Huthi rebels since March 2015. The experts will conduct “a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights” committed in the conflict and seek “to identify those responsible,” it said. Launching the probe marks a victory for a group of European states and Canada, which pushed hard for an international inquiry fully independent of a Yemeni national investigation that is backed by the Saudis. The Saudi-led coalition has been accused of bombing schools, markets, hospitals and other civilian targets in support of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The Iran-backed Huthi insurgents have also been accused of widespread abuses, which the UN team will also probe. Saudi Arabia had for the past two years succeeded in blocking the rights chief’s call for an international inquiry. In a letter leaked to several media outlets this week, the kingdom threated economic and diplomatic retaliation against rights council members which voted for the EU/Canadian proposal.