Yemen sanctions extended for a further year
The United Nations Security Council has authorised a one-year extension of the asset freeze and travel ban imposed in 2014 on individuals or entities threatening peace, security and stability in Yemen – against a backdrop of reported continued human rights violations.
The UN news service said, that, ‘adopting Resolution 2511 (2020) by a vote of 13 in favour to none against, with two abstentions (China, Russian Federation), the Council also reaffirmed the provisions of an arms embargo imposed in April 2015 on militias of Ansar Allah — also known as the Houthis — and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, it also reaffirmed the need for full and timely implementation of the political transition, following the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference.’
The Council has also extended, for a year, ‘the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with gathering information about those who potentially meet the criteria for designation,’ and has ‘requested that the Panel provide a midterm update to the Committee no later than 28 July 2020, and a final report to the Council itself no later than 28 January 2021.’
It said: ‘Both should contain information about the commercially available components used by individuals or entities designated by the Committee to assemble unmanned aerial vehicles, water-borne improvised explosive devices and other weapons systems, bearing in mind that the request should not have an adverse impact on humanitarian assistance or legitimate commercial activities.’
The news service reported US representative Rodney Hunter as having said that Iran was defying its obligations under the sanctions regime ‘by smuggling increasingly sophisticated weapons to the Houthis’ and that ‘ the resolution rightly calls out Houthi abuses against the Yemeni people and refers for the first time to the environmental risks posed by the oil storage tanker Safer, located in Houthi controlled northern Yemen, and the need for United Nations officials to inspect the vessel without delay.’
Abdullah Ali Fadhel al-Saadi, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations, welcomed the adoption, ‘expressing hope that the conclusions of the Panel of Experts will help to end the humanitarian tragedy and disastrous effects of war waged by the Iran-supported Houthis.’
He condemned ‘Houthi violations of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights,’ and said, ‘the militias commit aggression against Yemeni women — including arrest, arbitrary detention and rape in secret prisons,’ and said that there is evidence that militias abduct children, sending them to fight on the front lines of the conflict.
The resolution is at: https://undocs.org/S/RES/2511%20(2020)
