57 rights organizations urge UN inquiry into abuses in Yemen

Dozens of rights groups from around the world have urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an independent investigation into the rights violations committed in Yemen since a Saudi-led military coalition invaded the country.

Dozens of rights groups from around the world have urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an independent investigation into the rights violations committed in Yemen since a Saudi-led military coalition invaded the country.

In a letter to members of the Human Rights Council, 57 Yemeni and international rights groups urged the establishment of an independent body to probe violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian laws in Yemen.

“Serious violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of international human rights law by parties to the conflict have continued to be committed with impunity,” Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the 57 signatories, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The New-York based rights group stressed that the Saudi-led coalition had carried out dozens of “unlawful airstrikes, some of which may amount to war crimes, that have killed thousands of civilians and hit schools, hospitals, markets and homes.”