MEPs Seminar Briefing: War Crimes and Accountability in Yemen

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Democracy Centre for Transparency hosted a webinar on War Crimes and Accountability in Yemen  The webinar was attended by MEP Katalin Cseh , Vice-President of Renew Europe Group and member of Foreign Affairs Committee , MEP Marc Tarabella member of Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group and Vice-Chair of delegation to relation with the  Arab Peninsula; and MEP Barry  Andrews , members of Renew Europe Group.

MEP Katalin Csehstarted the webinar stating that we can see there is an unsuccessful Arab Spring transition that has escalated to a heated local conflict and a long-run war.

Ms. Katalin stated that the effects are always devastating as this war has resulted in a very humanitarian crisis, leaving 80% of the population to be in a very cute need to humanitarian assistance in terms of food, health care, shelter and water. She also referred to the millions of population who been displaced that really reflects individual and groups suffering and tragedy. Besides, MEP Katalin highlighted the true suffering of women who are critically exposed to gender-based violence in addition to their long-distance travelling to secure a safe place for family away from the conflict spots; and to the continuous tragedy of children there who are born and raised in poverty and deprived of their normal life, simply because they have become victims of violence.

Shedding light on the most Important  paragraphs about the situation in Yemen, Mep Marc Tarabella started his intervention saying that the situation in Yemen is the most grave in the world during the last 30 years, causing tragedies in lives of millions of people, particularly children who are not fighters there.

Mr. Tarabella referred to paragraph 12 which says that EU-based arms exporters are not complying with several criteria or legally abiding council common position on arms export especially to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and to Paragraph 13 in which the Parliament notes the decision of a number of member states to impose export ban to Saudi Arabia and stresses that weapon export remains a national competence of the member states; and calls and member states to halt the export of arms to these two countries for what is committed of crimes in Yemen.

Mr.Tarabella moved to talk about Paragraph 27 where the European Parliament confirms its commitment to fight against impunity for crimes of wars and crimes against humanity including in Yemen; and individual responsibility of committing war crimes should be prosecuted and brough to the court.

Talking about the human rights situation accountability and role of international actors; Mep Barry Andros reaffirms that the situation in Yemen is the worst in the Planet where a lot of war crimes have been recorded by the UNGEE; targeting civilians, hospitals, schools, markets, weddings, and even funerals; it is a true violation of international human rights law.

Mep Barry referred to the practices of accountability systems in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, there are many mechanism to gather evidence, to develop prosecution cases, and to obtain witness statements, but the same does not exist in Yemen which is a reflection of ambivalent attitude of the west to this war. Mr. Barry also added  that so much efforts need to be put in favour of proving justice to the victims of the war crimes.      

DCTransparency Editorial

DCTransparency Editorial

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