KSA Employs "Threats, Incentives" to End UN Investigation in Yemen
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Saudi Arabia used "incentives and threats" to shut down a UN inquiry into human rights breaches perpetrated by the Saudi-led coalition forces in the war on Yemen.
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Portraits of late Yemenis, who were martyred in the ongoing war on the country
Saudi Arabia initiated a lobbying campaign to shut down a UN investigation of human rights violations committed by the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen, using "incentives and threats", according to sources close to the matter.
As a result of Saudi efforts, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) voted in October against extending the independent war crimes investigation. The vote marked the first defeat of a resolution in the Geneva body’s 15-year history.
Political officials and diplomatic and activist sources reported to The Guardian inside information regarding the lobbying pressure described as a stealth campaign in which the Saudis appear to have influenced officials to guarantee the defeat of the measure.
Saudi Arabia's pressure policy
Riyadh warned Indonesia that if officials did not vote against the 7 October resolution, this could create obstacles for Indonesians to travel to Mecca.
It is worth noting that Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.
Moreover, the African nation of Togo announced that it would open a new embassy in Riyadh and receive financial support from the kingdom to support alleged anti-terrorism activities.
Both Indonesia and Togo had abstained from the Yemen resolution in 2020. This year, they both voted against the measure.
The resolution was defeated by a simple majority of 21-18, with seven countries abstaining. In 2020, the resolution passed by a vote of 22-12, with 12 members abstaining.
“That kind of swing – from 12 no’s to 21 – does not just happen,” said one official.
HRW: Saudi Arabia is working to influence coalition allies
The Geneva Director of Human Rights Watch, John Fisher, said, “It was a very tight vote. We understand that Saudi Arabia and their coalition allies and Yemen were working at a high level for some time to persuade states in capitals through a mixture of threats and incentives, to back their bids to terminate the mandate of this international monitoring mechanism.”
He added, “The loss of the mandate is a huge blow for accountability in Yemen and for the credibility of the human rights council as a whole. For a mandate to have been defeated by a party to the conflict for no reason other than to evade scrutiny for international crimes is a travesty.”
The HRC voted to establish a team of experts in order to investigate possible violations of humanitarian law and human rights in Yemen in 2017.
Saudi Arabia, which is not a voting member of the UN Human Rights Council, initially supported the effort.
Also, the experts – known as the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen (GEE) – were never granted permission to travel to Yemen, but their reports grew more “damning” over the years, one person who closely followed the matter said.
GEE urges accountability for war crimes
In 2020, GEE for the first time urged the international community to focus on accountability for potential war crimes in Yemen.
They offered five recommendations, including that the UN Security Council transfer the case to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
One person who followed the matter said, “I think that must have been the trigger moment when the Saudi coalition realized this is really going too far.”
The aggressive efforts of the Saudis caught those who backed the legislation, which was led by the Netherlands, off guard.
States are pressured to say "no"
During the talks, none of the countries that would subsequently switch their votes from abstention to "no" objected to the resolution, which changed only in one substantial manner from the 2020 version: it sought to prolong the mandate to two years rather than one.
“You could see the whole thing shift, and that was a shock,” said one person familiar with the matter. Usually, voting positions are known days before a vote is taken. But in October, member countries resisted sharing what their final position would be, which proponents saw as a worrying sign that some countries were under intense pressure.
Even though the outcome of the vote was uncertain, supporters of the resolution decided to vote.
“For the Saudis to win this battle at the expense of the Yemeni people is terrible. But it’s also a textbook case for other countries like Russia and China to torpedo any other investigation. It really shook everyone to the core. The scrutiny should be on those members of the council that couldn’t withstand the pressure,” said one person close to the matter.
The UAE, an ally of Saudi Arabia in the war on Yemen, urged Senegal to sign a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint Emirati-Senegalese business council only a week after the vote. The council's alledged goal was to "boost cooperation" between the "two friendly countries" through the UAE chamber of commerce.
