Removal of Saudi-led Coalition from Child Rights Violators List

A spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General stated on Monday that following Riyadh's proposal, the name of the Saudi-led coalition will be temporarily removed from the list of child rights violators to reassess the allegations mentioned in a recent report regarding the killing of Yemeni children. Last week, in a report presented by Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia was identified as responsible for 60% of the children killed and injured in Yemen over the past year. The report emphasized that during the coalition's attacks, 510 children were killed and 667 others were injured. According to France Press, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon, stated that the Secretary-General agreed to Saudi Arabia's proposal for a joint review of the documents cited in the report concerning the killing of Yemeni children. The spokesperson added that until the results of this investigation are announced, the coalition's name will be removed from the report's appendix. Reports indicate that Abdullah al-Maallami, Saudi Arabia's representative to the UN, welcomed this change on Monday, stating that the removal of the coalition's name from the final list is unconditional. This comes after Abdullah al-Maallami had previously criticized the report, stating that it should be amended so that no accusations would be directed at the coalition, particularly Saudi Arabia. He asserted that the claim that the Saudi-led coalition is responsible for 60% of child deaths in Yemen is highly exaggerated. According to France Press, Abdullah al-Maallami met on Monday with Jen Allison, Ban Ki-moon's deputy, to discuss this list. He warned that placing the coalition's name on the UN blacklist could harm the peace negotiation efforts in Yemen. The UN states that at least 6,400 people have been killed since the onset of the conflict in Yemen, and 80% of the country's population requires humanitarian assistance. According to Reuters, the Houthi militants, government forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and his supporting militias have been on the UN blacklist for years due to their continuous violations of children's rights in recent years of conflict in Yemen. The report also adds that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is also on the UN blacklist. In this context, the UN had previously placed the Arab coalition on the list of child rights violators.