Yemen: UN agrees to investigate alleged war crimes amid conflict between Saudi Arabia-led coalition and rebels

(AFP/Getty)

The United Nations has agreed to establish a group of eminent experts to examine all allegations of war crimes and potential human rights violations committed in the conflict in Yemen, and to identify those responsible.

In a last-minute compromise hammered out between Western powers and Arab countries, the UN Human Rights Council adopted by consensus without a vote, a resolution which the Yemen delegation said it accepted.

“We believe that this urgent request could no longer be ignored,” Dutch ambassador Monique TG Van Daalen told the Geneva forum.

"A credible international investigation is necessary in order to comprehensively, transparently, independently and impartially establish facts and circumstances surrounding violations with a view to put an end to the cycle of impunity in Yemen," the Dutch delegate added, on behalf of a core group of Western states.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab states presented the amended draft resolution. It will give the strongest international component yet to an examination of rights violations in a country that the UN says faces the world's greatest humanitarian disaster.

The council resolution capped intense closed-door negotiations to bridge a divide between a version promoted by the Netherlands and Canada, which had sought an international, independent Commission of Inquiry on Yemen, and a less-intrusive Arab proposal. It was perhaps the most contentious issue during a three-week session.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, who will name the international experts to the panel, has called three years in a row for an inquiry into alleged war crimes in Yemen, saying that a national commission has proved inadequate.

Britain and the United States spoke in favour of the text, while Yemen's delegation declared “our acceptance”.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been bombing the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen since the Houthis seized much of the country's north in 2015.

Saudi Arabia has said it follows international law when it comes to its airstrikes on Yemen, but has opened a number of investigations into incidents where civilians have been hit. Activists have said that the number of incidents is far above te number being investigated.

US charge d'affaires Ted Allegra told the Council: “We believe the Council speaking with one voice on Yemen is essential to address the worsening situation there, and to encourage the parties involved in the conflict to come to the table, not to mention for the integrity of the Council.”

Reuters