Alwaght- A move by some EU members to launch an independent investigation of Saudi aggressions against Yemen was blocked by the UK, Guardian reported.
The move was initiated by the Netherlands to mission the UN Human Rights Council to independently investigate the war in Yemen where thousands of people have been killed in Saudi airstrikes.
The British government blocked the proposal and finally it was replaced by a much weaker call for the UN body to dispatch a mission “to monitor and report on the situation”.
Many human rights bodies, including the Amnesty International, protested the move, saying “Blocking attempts to create an international inquiry is a betrayal of the people of Yemen who have suffered so much during this conflict. It’s shocking. The UK ought to be standing up for justice and accountability, not acting as a cheerleader for arms companies.”
Human Rights Watch also denounced the move in an open letter saying that an international inquiry would help “establish the facts, collect and preserve information related to violations and abuses with a view to ensuring that those responsible for crimes are brought to justice in fair trials.”
The UK government is already under fire by the members of its parliament who demanded a halt on arms sales to the Saudi Arabia until a full investigation is done about the aggressions in Yemen.
The UK Prime Minister Theresa May however rejected the call claiming that her country is using all tools to make sure no violation of human rights is committed in Yemen.
This is when the UN Human Rights Commissioner says 180 civilians have lost their live only in August.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson last week rejected the need for an independent investigation, saying the UK was “using a very, very wide variety of information sources” about the war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has been pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll at 10,000. The offensive was launched to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch sally of Riyadh, who has resigned as Yemen’s president.
