UN’s Yemen Report ‘Strongly Suggests’ Coalition May Be Guilty of War Crimes

UN’s Yemen Report ‘Strongly Suggests’ Coalition May Be Guilty of War Crimes

The United Nations Human Rights Council said on Tuesday that parties to the conflict in Yemen, namely participants in the Saudi-led coalition, may be guilty of war crimes.

A 41-page report by the Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen, which was commissioned by the UN, "strongly suggests" suggests that the Saudi-backed Yemeni government-in-exile, and the Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, "have committed acts that may, subject to determination by an independent and competent court, amount to international crimes."

Coalition airstrikes have killed civilians in "residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities," the UN statement asserts. It notes that the Group of Experts believe such attacks are "in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution that may amount to war crimes." 

The United Nations Human Rights Office says that between March 2015 and August 23, 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and more than 10,500 injured. However, the Human Rights Council cautions that "the real figures are likely to be significantly higher."

International pressure against the campaign has mounted since August 9, when a US-made bomb was used to blow up a school bus, killing 40 children and 11 others. But it apparently wasn't enough: on August 23, a coalition airstrike killed another 29 children and four women who were fleeing in a bus.

"I urge all parties to take the necessary measures to remove disproportionate restrictions on the safe and expeditious entry into Yemen of humanitarian supplies and other goods indispensable to the civilian population, and the movement of persons including through Sana'a International Airport in compliance with international humanitarian law," said the group's chairperson, Kamel Jendoubi. 

The report also alleges that Houthi forces have used weapons with wide areas of effect in urban settings, and, like other parties in the conflict, have conscripted children into armed service. Most civilian casualties, however, have come from coalition airstrikes, the report states.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that US support for Saudi Arabia in the conflict is conditional on the Saudis doing "everything humanly possible to avoid any innocent loss of life." 

So far, the Pentagon has not acted to curb its support for the coalition, even as lawmakers try to force its hand. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has been working to block US precision-guided munitions sales to Gulf monarchies involved in the conflict. "The Department of Defense can't give you a good answer about how it is our assistance is actually making it [the war in Yemen] better in terms of civilian casualties," he told the media. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Tuesday said he would introduce legislation to reject the sale of more than 120,000 precision guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the UAE should the administration press forward with it. A similar resolution to pull out US support completely failed in March, but Murphy is more confident he'll get the necessary votes after the August 9 bus bombing.

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US Denounces Human Rights

US Denounces Human Rights

Mark Maxey

“I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments,” US Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, told the media. “On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”

This was a joint statement made by Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on why the United States was removing themselves from the UN Human Rights Council, in June 2018. The Council was established in 2006.

“Let me be crystal clear, the US has been, always been, an abuser of human rights. Their manifest destiny themed ideology has crucified, burned, and killed persons of color since 1776”, Mark Maxey, National Coordinator for Movement 4 People’s Democracy said.

Trump’s disastrous immigration policy of today reflects the same ideology that has been deployed as a weapon against Indigenous cultures from the 1600s to the present. He denounces immigrants as rapists, killers, and animals—implying they must all come from an inferior culture. When his supporters claim that detained children are better off in detention than they were with their parents, the belief in (white) American society’s superiority is on full display.

Early reformers used their religious beliefs to justify their Manifest Destiny perspective. It overflowed into Congress, which passed Manifest Destiny-themed bills. Indigenous people, meanwhile, were on the receiving end of this religious zealotry. Rape, abuse, kidnap, murder, and genocide were the end results for them. The recent quoting of Biblical scripture by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to justify the stealing of immigrant children from their parents shows that this ideology is still very much alive among at least some sectors of the U.S. government.

Capitalism is still playing into the mythology of white Manifest Destiny, which goes back to the earliest colonial settlements. Trump’s policies are aimed at stoking the racist anger and resentment of his mass base, but they reflect the interests of the same oligarchy that Sen. Bernie Sanders assailed in his bid for the presidency. In every way, the current administration’s policies show favoritism to those at the top and seek any way possible to divide those outside the ranks of the super-wealthy.

The US Congress, and the whole government is out of touch with reality. As it relates to Human Rights. “The UN Human Rights Council has always been a problem. Instead of focusing on real human rights issues, the council has used its time and resources to bully Israel and question Israel’s legitimacy as a sovereign state,” Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement June 2018.. “But the way to deal with this challenge is to remain engaged and work with partners to push for change.

Let’s talk openly and honestly about Palestine and Israel. Just look at these images on how Israel has usurped and stolen land from the Palestinian people. Israel has used the same manifest destiny ideology to go above and beyond the UN agreement signed in 1947. No wonder the US is in agreement with Israel, just ask any Indigenous Nation with a Treaty signed by the US and not followed by the US.

The struggles of the Palestinian people is real. A heavy aura of Zionist oppression was felt when I was in Palestine in 2016. Ironic that in such a place where the human history of a love revolution from God took place, such chaos explodes across the pristine landscape.

In 1947 the boundaries set in agreement with the Jewish Nation and Palestine gave a well-defined area of ownership of land for the Palestinians. However, through the years Israel has encroached and usurped land illegally from the Palestinians. Presently the map reflects 75% less than given by the UN in 1947. “Let’s be honest, this present situation (Al-Aqsa) is about occupation,” Imam Imad Enchassi says. “The Palestinians desire their own recognized state. One man, one vote.”

Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism, outlined his vision for a Jewish state in his publication called Der Judenstaat(The Jewish State), published in February 1896.

Ralph Schoenman, in his book, The Hidden History of Zionism, says, “the objective of Zionism has never been merely to colonize Palestine – as was the goal of classical colonial and imperial movements during the 19th and 20th centuries. The design of European colonialism in Africa and Asia was, essentially, to exploit indigenous peoples as cheap labor while extracting natural resources for exorbitant profit.” You can read the full book online here. This ideology was set forth in 1896 by Herzl. It became reality in 1947. Taking 51 years of indoctrination to see the rise of this racist mentality become a government of oppression, Israel. I am not being anti-Semitic because Zionism is a nationalist mentality, not a race of persons nor a religion. Zionism again is no different than the current rise of alt-right nationalism under the Trump administration.

AIDA Camp, Palestine, Memorializing the children massacred in July 2014 (photo by Mark Maxey)

AIDA camp, Palestine, art graffiti on the WALL that separates Israel and Palestine (photo by Mark Maxey)

President Trumps heralds a new deal with relationships with Israel. Trumps administration clearly impedes upon the democracy Palestine seeks. It is preferential treatment against the victims (Palestine) from the oppression heavily used by the Israeli government.

While in Palestine (West Bank) June 2015 for two weeks I saw how Israel’s occupation impacts human rights for Palestinians. Israel controls their movement, right to travel, water supply, and the building of their homes. This heavy-handed oppression by Israel fuels the anger Palestinians have.  Many Palestinian Muslims approached me with smiles thanking me for coming. But they all said, “Please tell your government not to fund weapons used against us.” America gives Israel approximately 40 Billion dollars a year. The travel of any Palestinians is maniacally controlled by the IDF. Sometimes IDF holds Palestinians up to 12 hours to simply walk to Jerusalem (less than a mile) to purchase food.

I witnessed the IDF bring bulldozers inside Palestine, West Bank. The reason was stated no building permit was issued, while the Palestinian was waving his permit in the air. The Palestinians are defenseless against the martial law enforced by Israel. Palestinians are denied a nation and citizenship rights by the Zionist policies of the Israeli government.

“The council ceases to be worthy of its name,” US Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said, explaining the U.S. withdrawal. “Such a council, in fact, damages the cause of human rights.” What a line of bull manure that is. The US damages the cause of human rights daily.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. focus on Israel’s treatment has actually caused American officials to lose sight of the good work the council has done elsewhere.

“The U.N. Human Rights Council has played an important role in such countries as North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and South Sudan, but all Trump seems to care about is defending Israel,” Roth said in a statement to NPR. “Like last time when the U.S. government stepped away from the Council for similar reasons, other governments will have to redouble their efforts to ensure the Council addresses the world’s most serious human rights problems.”

And Richard Gowan, a fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, told NPR’s Michele Kelemen that there is another potential issue muddying the waters of this decision: the recent condemnations leveled at the Trump administration’s immigration policies by international human-rights officials.

In a span of fewer than two months, U.S. officials have separated some 2,300 children from their parents after they crossed the border into the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security. And the administration’s policy has attracted a sharp rebuke from the U.N. high commissioner on human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein.

“The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,” Raad al-Hussein said Monday, in comments opening the 38th session of the Human Rights Council.

Trump and his team’s “law and order” framework is the same one articulated by President Richard Nixon in the late 1960s and more subtly invoked by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as they ramped up the drug war and fueled massive prison expansions during their times in office. We jail and separate families at the border to deter illegal immigration just as we jail and separate poor families within our country because they can’t afford bail or proper legal representation.

Simply put the US has always been a denier of Human Rights. Organizations such as Movement 4 People’s Democracy rallies support for true Human Rights. MPD brochure shows how they break through the chaff, the fascist walls of capitalism, and exposes the truth of Human Rights. The only reason the US left the UN Council for Human Rights, is because they are and support others that trample human rights.

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The Government is Dragging Us Back Decades in the Protection of Women’s Human Rights

https://theadvocatespost.org/2018/06/22/the-government-is-dragging-us-back-decades-in-the-protection-of-womens-human-rights/

"In my 25 years as a human rights advocate, I have learned that it is very difficult to be female in many parts of the world. In spite of this reality, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is dragging us back decades in the protection of women’s human rights. " #StopWomensHumanRightsViolations

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In my 25 years as a human rights advocate, I have learned that it is very difficult to be female in many parts of the world.  In spite of this reality, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is dragging us back decades in the protection of women’s human rights. His recent rejection of the decision in the Matter of A-B shows a callous disregard for the lived experiences of women.

In many countries, girls are aborted or killed as infants solely because they are female. Some die during traditional rituals such as female genital mutilation. Other girls are married off as children, trafficked for sex, or sold as domestic servants. As adults, women face violence in their homes, the streets, or at the hands of their governments. Some women are prohibited from doing certain kinds of work by archaic labor laws developed based on stereotypes and prejudices about women. Others endure harassment and demeaning work conditions just to make a living.

It took the United Nations more than 45 years to acknowledge women’s rights as human rights and violence against women as a human rights violation. It long ago acknowledged that governments are accountable for the human rights they commit as well as those they systematically fail to prevent. Kofi Annan identified violence against women as the most widespread human rights abuse in the world. Governments around the world have slowly been adopting laws to address violence, but we see enormous difficulties in properly implementing laws to provide adequate protections.

This new recognition that legal protections should reflect the experiences of women was slowly being reflected in refugee and asylum law in the United States. Over the past two decades, we have seen the definition of a social group, an identified group who should be protected from persecution, extended to victims of domestic violence when their government cannot or will not protect them. These life-saving developments recognized that previous interpretations of the law ignored these human rights abuses against women.  Domestic violence is not a family matter, it is a global epidemic and the stakes could not be higher.

Another thing I learned is that governments around the world are failing women. I have heard countless stories over the years about women calling the police or presenting themselves to prosecutors seeking protection from abusive spouses. They are taunted, ignored, and turned away. We have seen some improvement in laws and practices, but they have not stemmed the tide of abuse and women are still being injured and killed at alarming rates.  In some cases, women are ignored because their husbands are police officers, military or high ranking government officials. In other cases, the women are just not believed.

I remember one particularly compelling interview when I first started doing this work. A beautiful young woman in prison in Albania told me about the violence and abuse she experienced at the hands of her husband. He bruised her, broke her bones and made her bleed until she fainted. She tried over and over again to get help from the police and the prosecutors and was routinely turned away and told it was a family matter. After a particularly brutal beating that left her unconscious, she woke to the sight of her husband preparing to sexually assault their daughter. She leaped to her daughter’s defense, attacking her husband. He died as a result of the injuries. She was prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the man’s death. This woman, repeatedly failed by her own government, would not be provided asylum by our government today if Jeff Sessions has his way. It is up to all of us to make sure he doesn’t.

Robin Phillips is the executive director of The Advocates for Human Rights. She is an attorney and has written extensively about human rights, including trafficking in women, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.