YouSaid · the spoken record

Al-Mutawakel

lines on the record
18
first
2017-05-30
most recent
2022-01-25
sittings or episodes
2
sources
un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “It is shameful that we have seen States standing in the way of international accountability efforts, including by disgracefully ending the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen in October 2021 at the Human Rights Council. There is still time to correct course. States should support the establishment of an independent and impartial mechanism through the General Assembly to investigate violations and abuses of international law committed in Yemen to publicly report, collect and preserve evidence and prepare files for future criminal prosecutions. I believe that if there had been real efforts to secure accountability since the beginning of the war in Yemen, the warring parties would not have dared to destroy the country with their explosive weapons and Yemen would not have become the worst humanitarian crisis today.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  2. “Those decisions include putting pressure on the warring parties to stop the use of explosive weapons in populated areas; ending arms sales, especially to countries that have a track record of violating international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as arms-exporting countries have a responsibility to bear, and it is unreasonable to turn a blind eye to their role; striving for a new declaration on preventing the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, especially those that cause mass impact and incur heavy costs for civilians; and strengthening accountability for international crimes rather than upholding impunity. It is not sufficient to name and shame the warring parties and their behaviour. The Council should at long last refer Yemen’s situation to the International Criminal Court.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  3. “We also saw that the main Yemeni cities with the largest populations are suffering from the war. The cities have been at the centre of military operations and targeted over and over again. Despite all the grief that Yemeni women and men have experienced, the Security Council and the international community continue to have the ability to make positive change. Besides pushing for sustainable peace, there are a number of decisions that can be made that would better protect civilians.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  4. “In others, the documented civilian harm is beyond any apparent military benefit. Those attacks happened because the parties to the conflict confidently relied on impunity. I have personally visited, as dozens of the Mwatana team have also, different parts of Yemen, where we saw the scattered remains of innocent men, women and children who did not know why they were killed. We saw how whole families slept peacefully at night, and, when the day came, the number of survivors was zero. We observed poor villages that never knew any modern technology — no smart phones or computers — but were targeted by the latest bombs and projectiles dropped by the latest aircraft manufactured in the richest and most urbanized countries; neither were the same villages spared from the most primitive weapons.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  5. “Each of those notable structures has meaning in the lives of Yemenis. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Yemen in 2014, the Mwatana Organization for Human Rights has documented at least 800 air strikes, more than 700 ground attacks and more than 300 incidents of mine explosions. The Mwatana Organization has also documented explosions caused by explosive objects and the use of drones and ballistic missiles. More than 3,000 civilians have been killed in those attacks and more than 4,000 civilians wounded. Civilian objects have been damaged and destroyed. In the report, entitled The Starvation Makers, Mwatana documents how warring parties have used explosive weapons, such as air strikes and mines, as a tool to starve civilians. In a large number of those attacks, Mwatana identifies no military target.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  6. “Civilians continue to suffer, and all warring parties — the Iranian-backed Ansar Allah Houthi armed group, the Saudi and the United Arab Emirates-led coalition, the internationally recognized Yemeni Government, the United Arab Emirates- backed Southern Transitional Council and the joint forces — have committed violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Many civilians in Yemen have been made victims by the use of various explosive weapons in populated areas — from weapons, such as indiscriminate projectiles, mines and ballistic missiles to smart weapons, such as laser-guided bombs and drones. All aspects of life have been devastated, including homes, schools, hospitals, wedding and funeral halls, farms, factories and cultural property.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  7. “In less than a month, Mwatana Organization for Human Rights documented seven air strikes by the Saudi/Emirati-led coalition on civilians and civilian objects, which killed at least 107 civilians and injured at least 106 others. The bloodiest air strike was on a detention centre in Saada where at least 82 detainees were killed and at least 163 others injured, including those injured due to live munitions fired by Ansar Allah Houthis. Moreover, in the same period, Mwatana documented 10 incidents of ground attacks, mine explosions and drone use committed by Ansar Allah Houthis, killing at least nine civilians and injuring at least 10 others.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  8. “Ms. Al-Mutawakel: I thank the members of the Security Council for allowing voices from civil society to reach the Council. I also want to thank the Secretary-General and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross for their briefings. I delivered a briefing to this Council before, on 30 May 2017 (see S/PV.7954), during a special session on Yemen. Since that briefing, the combatants in Yemen have claimed thousands of civilian lives, destroyed more civilian facilities and infrastructure and squandered many opportunities to stop the bloodshed. I am speaking to the Council from my office in Yemen, where the reckless blood-shedding is still going on.”

    2022-01-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8953 (2022) · source

  9. “We have before us an opportunity for the Security Council to take action to protect the people of Yemen and support us in finding the path to a sustainable peace. Despite the difficulty of the situation on the ground, it is still possible to turn around and chart a path towards peace, democracy and economic development. However, as the war continues, we need to keep in mind that what is possible today might not be possible tomorrow. Urgent action is therefore crucial.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  10. “The Security Council also needs to take urgent concrete action to immediately mitigate suffering. These actions will require the Security Council to show courage, commitment and resolve. The Security Council should urgently establish an international independent commission of inquiry to investigate violations by all parties to the conflict, stop the sale of weapons to parties involved in human rights violations in Yemen, demand an end to the targeting of civilians and civilian objects through aerial and ground attacks, ensure the release of civilian detainees who are arbitrarily held and those forcibly disappeared under the authority of the Houthi-Saleh alliance or under the Government of President Hadi and his allies, demand that there be unhindered humanitarian access to all areas and all people in need, ensure that Sana'a International Airport is reopened, insist upon immediate agreement among the parties for a mechanism to pay salaries to public sector employees, protect Hodeida port from the armed conflict and ensure that it is restored to full functionality so it can better meet the needs of millions of Yemenis, and demand that the restrictions on the operation of civil-society organizations are lifted, press freedoms restored and all detainedjournalists released, especially those who are under Houthi authority.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  11. “I call on the Security Council to come together to revive the peace talks so there can be an end of this senseless war. I call on the Security Council to support the Special Envoy for Yemen to be strong in the face of warring parties and to impress an inclusive peace plan that is not biased by the vision of one party alone. I call for the comprehensive inclusion of all Yemeni parties in the peace talks and to give ample space for the participation of civil society, women and youth. I call on Security Council members to stand beside Yemenis, halt support for any party to the conflict and stop transferring arms to any warring party in the country. The suffering of Yemenis cannot come to an end unless war ends. Long-term commitments are needed to promote peace.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  12. “They have lost their breadwinners, forcing them to suffer an even greater level of poverty than was evident before the conflict. Women are living an increasingly dangerous and insecure situation that restricts their movement and ability to fight poverty. Scenes of mothers, wives and daughters running from one prison to another in hope of hearing something about their detained and forcibly disappeared loved ones has been one of the hardest things to witness in this war. The people of Yemen look to the international community to ensure accountability for these serious violations of international law. Yemenis expect to see serious steps taken to restore their confidence in the capacity of the United Nations to maintain peace and security and promote justice. During war, peacebuilding becomes an act of courage and bravery.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  13. “We have also documented extensive violations by Ansar Allah armed groups and their ally former President Saleh, especially in Taiz, including the use of landmines in different areas in Yemen. Furthermore, we have documented violations, including extrajudicial executions by the forces of President Hadi and parties and armed groups allied with him. Both sides share responsibility for the indiscriminate shelling ofcivilians andcivilianfacilities, recruitment of children, denial of humanitarian access, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, violations of freedom of speech and the disappearance of a free press, harassing minorities, such as Bahais, and other grave violations. This war is taking the greatest toll on Yemeni women, who have become prime civilian targets for all warring parties.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  14. “Yemenis today need the international community and the Security Council to fulfil their responsibilities to protect them. Throughout the past three years of war, all parties to the conflict have committed grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. This cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. The Mwatana Organization for Human Rights has documented grave violations by the Saudi and Emirates-led coalition that has brought about the killing of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children. This coalition has struck residential compounds, public markets, cultural and heritage sites, hospitals, schools, bridges and factories.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  15. “If we put a lens closer on Yemen, we could easily catch the terrifying absence of State institutions in areas controlled by de facto authority of the Houthi Ansar Allah armed group and its ally, former President Saleh, as well as in areas controlled by the authority of President Hadi and parties and armed groups allied with him. Yemenis aspire to a strong Administration capable of providing security and basic services. Instead, they have only found armed groups engaged in conflict over power at their expense. War is providing an ideal environment for extremist groups to take hold and flourish. These groups have been working tirelessly through the war to consolidate their power at the local level. They are virtual landmines in Yemen's future and they cannot be weakened unless a state of law and order exists.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  16. “However, there are real opportunities to end this war and achieve a fair settlement that puts Yemenis on track to build a State grounded in the rule of law. For those who counted on war to bring solutions, what has war achieved except thousands of civilians killed and injured, many of them women and children? War has destroyed the basic and limited infrastructure that Yemen took decades to assemble. War led to the collapse of the health system. War is stopping hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children from going to school, undermining the development of an entire generation. Hundreds of children are forcibly recruited to serve in the front lines. War has led to a humanitarian crisis that is so acute that famine is imminent. Millions are invisibly internally displaced, and recently an outbreak of cholera has infected thousands of Yemenis.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  17. “Mwatana operates across Yemen in extremely difficult and complicated conditions, and we do everything possible to document and give voice to the victims and survivors of human rights violations that are happening daily by all parties to the conflict in all parts ofthe country. One of Mwatana's goals is to build a human rights memory that will provide the foundation for future justice and accountability for the people of Yemen. Most Yemenis are not involved in the war and do not have anything to do with military activity. The most common refrain we hear from people in our field work is "We hate war. We want to live." War in Yemen did not happen suddenly. It is the result of accumulated mistakes by all parties over the past years.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source

  18. “Ms. Al-Mutawakel: I would first like to thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to bring the voice of civil society to the Security Council. Many Yemenis hope that the Council can have a positive impact on their war-weary lives. I have come here from forgotten Yemen, overburdened by bearing witness to the grave human suffering that millions of Yemenis have endured as a result ofthe war. My country is in a state oftotal collapse. On my shoulders, I bear the weight of the stories that have been gathered over the last three years by the Mwatana Organization for Human Rights.”

    2017-05-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7954 (2017) · source