UN Experts published a report about the situation in Yemen and confirmed the UAE’s involvement in violations of human rights which amount to war crime
Geneva, 4th September 2018
A report which confirms violations of human rights in Yemen by the government and the coalition
After months of investigation, the UN Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen issued its report (A/HRC/39/43) on the situation of human rights in Yemen which covers the period from September 2014 to June 2018.
In the document, the Group confirms that they have reasons to believe that “Individuals in the Government and the coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have committed acts that may amount to war crime, including cruel treatment and torture, outrage upon personal dignity, rape and conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 or using them to participate actively in the hostilities”.
Among their conclusions, the Experts report widespread enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture in some facilities, including in secret detention centers such the Al-Rayan and Bureiqa facilities which are directly run by the United Arab Emirates.
In most cases, victims – including students, human rights defenders, journalists and supporters of political parties – are arrested without any warrant and without being informed about the charges against them. They are taken to secret detention facilities where they are held incommunicado for prolonged or indefinite period. There, they have no access to legal remedies, no contact with their family and their lawyers.
During the interviews carried by the UN Experts, former detainees and witnesses described that all along the interrogations, when they were blindfolded and handcuffed, they have been beaten, electrocuted, suspended upside down, drowned, threatened with violence against their families. The Experts also confirm sexual violence, including rape of adult male detainees, committed by the United Arab Emirates personnel.
United Arab Emirate officials involved in acts of torture
In the report, the Group lists individuals who may be responsible for international crimes. In this manner, several UAE officials are incriminated as the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan; the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE’s Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan or the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
At the end, the Group asks the Human Rights Council to ensure that the situation of human rights in Yemen remains on its agenda by renewing their mandate and urges the Security Council to emphasize the human rights dimensions of the conflict in Yemen and the need to ensure that there will be no impunity for the most serious crimes.
In the face of this report which confirm horrific acts commited by the parties of the conflict in Yemen, including the United Arab Emirates, the international community should remind the UAE their obligations under the international law in order to put an end to these war crimes and to punish their perpetrators.
On the list of authors cited by UN experts, there are a few Emirati officials against whom AVT-UAE members have filed criminal complaint in Switzerland as well as in other European cities.
Annex: Mapping of actors in the conflict
