On 05 October, ADHRB has delivered an oral intervention at the United Nation Human Rights Council session 54 under item 8 during the General debate. NGO’s called for respecting Yemen’s sovereignty and warned of the consequences of continued military operations and imposed restrictions.
The Yemeni people’s right to self-determination has been violated by the Saudi-led coalition and all states backing it.
The truth is, Hadi was unconstitutionally imposed on the Yemeni people in a single candidate election back in 2012. He overstayed his 2-year term without an election or parliamentary approval. He then supposedly requested the Arab League to intervene with military force to solve an internal conflict when he had no authority to do so. In the letter, Hadi wrongly relied on article 51 of the U.N. charter which allows for collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs between one state against another state but is not intended to be invoked when there is an internal conflict.
Rejected by the overwhelming majority of people in Yemen, he fled, unable to return to this date and was replaced by an unelected and therefore unconstitutional 8-member presidential council in 2022. The coalition’s pretext of restoring these unconstitutional administrations back to power has led to the death of over 500,000 civilians, the World’s worst humanitarian disaster and the occupation of about 2/3 of Yemen’s territory, including Socotra, a UNESCO world heritage site that is now threatened by the establishment of Coalition military bases and environmentally destructive commercial projects.
We call on the Council to respect the sovereignty of the Yemeni people as the continued Coalition restrictions on Yemen’s ports and military operations inside Yemen will inevitably lead to serious consequences for not only for Yemen, but also the region and international peace and stability in general.
