Recent reports show that in addition to attacking and killing Yemeni fishermen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have failed to uphold UN monetary pledge which will lead to many more civilian deaths.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch reveals that since 2018, 47 Yemeni fisherman have been killed by Saudi-UAE coalition members. Seven of these victims were children, and more than a 100 individuals have been detained and tortured.
The report details attacks carried out by coalition naval forces who targeted Yemeni fishing boats, gunning them down as they waved white cloths and lacked any distinction as a military target. Furthermore, in the aftermath of these attacks, they left survivors to drown clutching the remnants of their livelihood.
However, the abuses carried out by the Saudi-UAE coalition expand beyond blatant brutality and murder of civilians. Neither country has fulfilled their pledge of $1,5bn, with current payments at $127m from Saudi Arabia, and $16m from UAE. Since the conference, nearly every other donor has paid towards the aid for what has been deemed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Without these funds, millions of peoplein Yemen face dramatic cuts in access to food, medicine, and other necessary products. Already, many essential programs have been forced to close, such as vaccine campaigns, health facility suppliers, and cholera prevention programs.
If Saudi Arabia and the UAE fail to uphold their pledges, rations to 12 million people will be reduced, which includes as few as 2.5 million children who are currently malnourished and barely being kept alive by current supplies. Furthermore, five million people will be left without clean water by the end of October, another 19 million will be without health care, and tens of thousands will be made homeless.
The European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR) condemns the actions of the Saudi-UAE coalition to target civilians and neglect funding pledges. Furthermore, it calls upon European Union Member States to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia as they are only worsening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.