United Nations Security Council: Protect the innocent people of Yemen

The world's slow reaction - almost indifference - towards what is going on in the poorest Arab nation, and the inaction towards the so-called Saudi led alliance indiscriminate aerial attacks against the people of Yemen, must urgently be addressed and put to a stop. Imposing sanctions against a group in the country alongside a number of key figures is not an immediate solution nor the best answer. It is important that the UN Security Council demands all external hostile actions be immediately stopped and a top international team of experts and diplomats is set up to mediate and bring all internal hostilities to a stop, and stop the bloodshed of innocent citizens of the country.

We, the undersigned human rights and civil society organizations, write to urge local and international NGOs to condemn the ongoing grave violation of human rights and illegal interference in Yemen. We would like to echo the UN Secretary General call for a freeze in the violence and urge the UN Security Council, General Assembly to take immediate actions to stop the ongoing bloodshed and violations of human rights. According to World Health Organization, in the first month of heavy bombardments in Yemen resulted in 767 Yemenis being killed, 2960 injured and over 254,000 others including women and children being displaced. Airstrikes launched in and around Yemen's capital Sanaa, target bazaars and civilians leaving people killed and injured. This is while, Julien Harneis, a UNICEF representative in Yemen expects an "upsurge in malnutrition across the country" in the coming weeks. "It was already a country where 60 percent of the people were living under the poverty line, that's not going to get any better," he said. Also, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said an "immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict" was desperately needed to step up aid deliveries, adding that "The situation in Aden is extremely, extremely preoccupying if not catastrophic". Meanwhile, civil society actors are deeply concerned about the on-going violence in Yemen: Amnesty International remains disturbed by the high number of civilian casualties and deaths as a result of Saudi Arabian led airstrikes in the Yemen announcing that “the high toll of civilian deaths and injuries in these attacks raises concerns about compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law. Saudi Arabian and any other armed forces carrying out airstrikes in Yemen are required to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians”. Also, In letters to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch expressed concern that some of the airstrikes conducted by a U.S-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen appeared to violate the rules of engagement and urged the United States and Saudi Arabia to take steps to minimize harm to civilians. Considering the fact that Yemeni people are suffering from the bitter consequences of violence, immediate actions are required to stop the ongoing grave violation of human rights.