Fallen Apart: Can Yemen be Saved?

Yet another seemingly impossible task

BY HAROON IMTIAZ

Now approaching its seventh year, the merciless war in Yemen continues to generate humanitarian conditions that are among the world’s worst. All parties are guilty of human rights abuses, the arms trade has enabled widespread atrocities, diplomatic efforts have failed and the country is terribly fractured.

Ever since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been locked in a destructive conflict with the Houthis, a rebel group that captured Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, from the Republic of Yemen government in 2014. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a number of other Middle Eastern, African, and Western states have backed the Saudi-led effort, in order to curtail Houthi influence and prevent Iran from securing a geopolitical ally at the Peninsula’s base.

This effort has failed and also implicated Saudi Arabia and the UAE in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have documented numerous coalition attacks on “homes, schools, hospitals, markets, mosques, weddings and funerals” (www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ news/2015/09/yemen-the-forgotten-war/ [Updated: March 24. 2020]). The Saudis’ punishing blockade has restricted critical imports of food, fuel and medicine — a type of collective punishment that may be considered a violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (www.rescue-uk. org/press-release/yemen-collective-punishment-must-end-now).

The UAE, a major ally in the coalition, has been implicated in running a torture network (www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/8/12/ report-mass-torture-in-network-of-uaerun-prisons-in-south-yemen), and both it and Saudi Arabia have transferred weaponry bought from the U.S. to extremist groups on the ground (www.learnexportcompliance. com/cnn-exclusive-report-sold-to-an-allylost-to-an-enemy/, March 28, 2019).

The Houthis have also grossly violated international law by, for example, deliberately targeting and killing civilians and deploying antipersonnel mines — declared illegal under the Mine Ban Treaty — that have killed and injured hundreds (www. state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-onhuman-rights-practices/yemen/). They have arbitrarily arrested and tortured journalists, enlisted thousands of child soldiers, tortured and raped detainees, as well as obstructed the free flow of humanitarian aid (Ibid.).

And while all of the parties directly involved are guilty of human rights abuses, the involvement of foreign countries has been undeniable. For example, the Saudi-led coalition has depended on weaponry, intelligence and logistical support mainly from the U.S., the U.K. and France. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has documented Saudi Arabia’s dependency, in particular, on U.S. and British arms from 2015 to 2019: “A total of 73 percent of Saudi Arabia’s arms imports came from the USA and 13 percent from the UK (www.sipri.org/ media/press-release/2020/usa-and-francedramatically-increase-major-arms-exportssaudi-arabia-largest-arms-importer-says).”

UN investigators also concluded in 2020 that numerous countries had failed “to ensure respect for international humanitarian law,” by knowingly transferring weapons to warring parties with previous patterns of abuse (reliefweb.int/report/yemen/situation-human-rights-yemen-including-violations-and-abuses-september-2014-detailed, Sept. 29, 2020). Some states, they argued, had likely violated their international obligations contained in the Arms Trade Treaty of 2013 (Ibid.).

However, under public pressure and scrutiny, some countries have begun to change course. Germany, for instance, extended its ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia until December 2021 (www.middleeastmonitor.

com/20201211-germany-extends- of humanity,” and directed blame saudi-arms-sale-ban-for-1-year/, toward the world’s richest countries Dec. 11, 2020). Italy recently (www.rescue-uk.org/press-release/ announced a halt on thousands of david-miliband-responds-insufmissiles and bombs destined for both ficient-funding-galvanized-yeSaudi Arabia and the UAE (www. men-pledging-conference, March aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/29/ 1, 2021). italy-makes-permanent-arms-sale- The head of the UN Office for freeze-to-saudi-arabia, Jan. 29, 2021). the Coordination of Humanitarian And President Joe Biden announced Affairs also castigated Britain for its an end to “all American support lack of pledging toward a crisis it for offensive operations in Yemen, helped create and rightly accused it including relevant arms sales” — WHILE ALL OF THE PARTIES of balancing its books on the backs a significant turnaround from his predecessor (www.whitehouse. DIRECTLY INVOLVED ARE of starving Yemenis (www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/07/uk-balgov/briefing-room/speeches-re- GUILTY OF HUMAN RIGHTS ancing-books-on-backs-of-yemensmarks/2021/02/04/remarks-by-president-biden-on-americas-place-in- ABUSES, THE INVOLVEMENT OF starving-people-says-un-diplomat, March 7, 2021). This level of neglect, the-world/). FOREIGN COUNTRIES HAS BEEN especially by a country that helped

Yet despite these positive devel- UNDENIABLE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE perpetuate the war, is inexcusable. opments, along with overwhelming evidence implicating foreign powers SAUDI-LED COALITION LARGELY And despite the failure of previous efforts, dialogue must continue. in prolonging the war, some of the DEPENDS FOR ITS WEAPONRY, The international community can involved countries have not yet signaled a willingness to end their INTELLIGENCE AND LOGISTICAL and must bring the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis to the negotisupport. SUPPORT MAINLY ON THE U.S., ating table. Both parties must make Countries cannot simply stand by and ignore the moral imperative to THE U.K. AND FRANCE. concessions, among them putting an end to cross-border attacks. This, in help end this war. The international practice, could help move the sides community must immediately end toward ending the war. the transfer of arms to all warring Going forward, many wonder parties and then focus on conflict what a future Yemen will look like. resolution and diplomacy. The U.S. Some believe that the fracturing can and should play the role prom- brought on by the war has made ised by the Biden administration: to unification impossible in the near be a force of moral leadership in the future. Former UN investigator world. So far, the administration has Gregory Johnson said, “Yemen no terminated U.S. support for offensive longer functions as a single country” military operations in Yemen and (www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ certain arms sales. the-u-s-is-ending-its-support-for Now it is time to commit the U.S. the-saudi-led-war-in-yemen-thatmore broadly to a human rights-ori- s-the-easy-part/ar-BB1dqI9L, ented foreign policy, a redirection Feb. 5, 2021). Bruce Riedel of the that could involve banning mil- Brookings Institution has argued, itary aid to all governments that “The more likely outcome is multiple egregiously violate human rights Yemens, like in the past,” prior to until they noticeably improve their Yemeni unification in 1990 (www. conduct. In fact, U.S. law prohibits brookings.edu/blog/order-fromsecurity assistance “to any country the gov- with Saudi Arabia conditional upon this chaos/2021/03/01/getting-yemens-houthernment of which engages in a consistent very action. is-to-yes-on-a-ceasefire/, March 1, 2021). pattern of gross violations of internationally At the same time, leaders must prioritize Such forecasting should not, however, recognized human rights (22 U.S. Code generous humanitarian aid to help millions diminish our resolve. Governments can take § 2304).” of Yemenis who are food insecure. The inter- bold and decisive action now to avert fur-

In addition, world leaders must call for national community’s collective failure in ther harm. Doing so is our responsibility as an end to the blockade — a cruelty that has this regard can be seen in the UN’s contin- states, non-governmental organizations and contributed to the death and starvation of ued struggle to procure enough funds. At human beings. We must take it seriously. ih countless Yemenis. One way states can do a recent UN conference, the International Haroon Imtiaz, who holds a MS in Global Affairs from New York this is by making improved foreign relations Rescue Committee called this “a failure University, is communications coordinator at ISNA.