Theresa May urged to vote against Saudi Arabia remaining on Human Rights Council over abuses

Exclusive: The Saudi Ambassador has also held an influential panel post over the last year

A Yemeni woman holds a slogan during a protest in front of the United Nations office in the capital Sanaa (Getty)

Politicians and campaigners will demand Theresa May vote against Saudi Arabia remaining on the UN Human Rights Council after a year which saw the country's government savagely bomb Yemen, commit vast numbers of beheadings, a mass execution and detain activists.

Their call, on World Humanitarian Day, comes ahead of a critical UN vote on whether Saudi Arabia retains its seat. Controversy over the matter has increased since the Saudi Ambassador was also given a key role on a panel related to the council.

But despite the repeated and well publicised atrocities of the Middle Eastern state, UK ministers still refuse to say whether they will back the kingdom or not.

It follows recently emerged details of the huge quantities of military aircraft, bombs and arms the UK is selling Saudi Arabia, some of which have been used in a Yemeni campaign described as a “human catastrophe”.

Saudi’s position on the council means it has influence over international human rights standards. Critics say the vote in October is a golden opportunity for Ms May’s new government to demonstrate it truly values human rights.

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Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tom Brake accused the Government of making “endless excuses for the Saudi regime”.

Amnesty International meanwhile demanded the UK hold Saudi to account for “its appalling human rights record and the ongoing war crimes in Yemen”.

A man surveys the rubble of a house after it was destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa last week (Reuters)

More than 6,500 people have died in the Yemeni conflict according to the UN and a further 2.5 million have been displaced. Over half the population faces severe food insecurity.

Save the Children says one in three under-fives is suffering acute malnutrition, while schools and hospitals have been flattened by Saudi bombs.

This week around 11 people were killed in an air strike on a hospital, following a pattern of bombings in civilian areas.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch say they have identified 69 unlawful air strikes, some of which may amount to war crimes, killing at least 913 civilians. The two organisations also documented 19 attacks involving banned cluster munitions.

Mr Brake said: “Days after yet another hospital has been bombed in Yemen, it is time for the UK government to reconfirm our commitment to International Humanitarian Law and be absolutely clear that we will not support the re-election of Saudi Arabia to the UN Human Rights Council.

“The Conservatives claim that votes to the council are always kept secret, but we demand transparency on this critical issue and will no longer accept their endless excuses for the Saudi regime.”

He added: “This Friday, on World Humanitarian Day, this is the UK’s chance to show true solidarity with all people facing conflict and instability across the globe.”

People walk past a building destroyed during fighting in Yemen's southwestern city of Taiz (Reuters)

In April this year the number of beheadings in Saudi were on course to be more than double those that took place in 2015. In the first three months of 2016, 82 people were sentenced.

In January the state put 47 people to death for terror offences on a single day, mainly individuals convicted of involvement in deadly attacks.

Last year anti-government blogger Raif Badawi was flogged in public for exercising his right to free speech. He remains behind bars while his sister fled to Canada fearing for her life.

Amnesty’s UK Foreign Policy Programme Director Polly Truscott said: “There’s no way Saudi Arabia should be on the Human Rights Council. Nothing's changed since we called for their suspension in June.

“The sheer scale of systematic abuses that Saudi Arabia has committed both at home and in Yemen, not to mention its cynical use of its privileged UN role to evade justice, have greatly compromised its integrity to play any international human rights role.

“Rather than turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s continuing bully tactics, the UK should publicly hold the Saudi authorities to account for its appalling human rights record and the ongoing war crimes in Yemen and should stop selling weapons to Saudi as a matter of urgency.”

The Campaign Against Arms Trade reports that the UK has licensed £3.3bn worth of arms to the Saudi government since last March.

They included £2.2bn worth of licenses for aircraft, helicopters and drones and £1.1bn of licences for bombs and missiles.

The UK Government has so far refused to rule out helping to re-elect Saudi to the UNHRC. Last year documents leaked to Wikileaks appeared to show the UK was involved in a vote-trading deal to help Saudi first join the council in 2013. A spokesman at the Foreign Office said today: “It is a long-standing HMG policy not to reveal our voting intentions in international elections.”

This article originally referred to Saudi Arabia as being chair of the Human Rights Council, we were subsequently informed that this was incorrect. The country's ambassador has at times chaired a panel related to the council.