Saudi Arabia and Muslim allies demanded to be removed from a blacklist for killing children in Yemen by applying huge pressure on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, a U.N. official tells CNN.
The Saudi-led coalition — made up of
several Arab countries — began a military campaign in Yemen in March
2015 aimed at preventing Houthi rebels allied to Iran and forces loyal to
Yemen’s deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power.
But last month, a U.N. report claimed the alliance was responsible for
60% of the 1,953 children recorded as killed or maimed in the conflict in
2015 — a sixfold rise since the previous year. They were added to a
blacklist of of groups violating children’s rights in armed conflict,
before dropping off the list again earlier this week.
That’s because Saudi Arabia made a threat
of a “total rupture” in relations between the Kingdom and the
U.N., placing in doubt hundreds of millions of dollars in financial
contributions to U.N. humanitarian agencies and causes, the U.N. official
said.
There were also suggestions clerics in Saudi
Arabia could meet to issue an anti-U.N. fatwa, declaring the organization
“anti-Muslim.”
The pressure was “massive …
beyond anything ever seen,” the official said.
‘Blatant pandering’
A spokesperson for Ban
confirmed that the coalition had been removed from the blacklist, saying
it had agreed to a joint review with Saudi officials of the cases and
numbers of casualties mentioned in the report.
Human rights organization Amnesty
International described the U.N.’s actions as “blatant
pandering” to Saudi Arabia that “undermines all of the
U.N.’s work to protect children caught up in war.”
The U.N. official said the pressure came in
the form of diplomatic phone calls and visits by U.N. diplomats at the
organization’s headquarters in New York.
‘Every word stands’
Despite the U.N.’s apparent
capitulation, it remained adamant its report on the parlous situation in
Yemen was accurate.
“Every word stands and we stand by the
figures and the information contained in the report,” U.N.
spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday.
“It paints a horrific picture of the
suffering of Yemenese civilians, especially the Yemeni children.”
In an open letter to Ban, Human Rights Watch and
19 other organizations called on the U.N. to immediately return the
Saudi-led coalition to the “list of shame.”
Source:CNN