Sérstök umræða um mannréttindaástandið í Jemen fór fram í mannréttindaráði Sameinuðu þjóðanna í dag og í ávarpi Íslands lagði Davíð Logi Sigurðsson, deildarstjóri mannréttindamála, áherslu á að löngu væri tímabært að binda enda á átökin í landinu.

Interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Yemen

Statement by Iceland

10 September 2019

Thank you, Mr. President.

We welcome the High Commissioner and the Group of Eminent Experts.

We thank the Group of Experts for their thorough reporting - detailing a host of possible war crimes and a dire humanitarian situation for which the parties to the conflict are directly responsible.

We sincerely regret the lack of cooperation by the Governments of Yemen, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt with the Group of Experts.

The dark times for Yemen have been going on for more than four years now. Civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence and women and children are among the most vulnerable.

Mr. President, ending this man-made conflict is the only way to resolve this humanitarian crisis. The people of Yemen need urgent humanitarian aid and protection.

As noted by the Experts, the steps required to address the human rights and international law violations in Yemen have been continually discussed, and there can no longer be any excuses made for failure to take meaningful steps to address them.

We all know that the continued supply of weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Yemen perpetuates the conflict and the suffering of the population. We therefore ask what more can be done to get States to prohibit the authorization of transfers of, and refrain from providing, arms that could be used in the conflict?

I thank you.