Iranian Official Urges UN Action to End Aggression on Yemen

Chief of the Iranian Judiciary's Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani in separate letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein voiced concerns over the grave situation of the Yemeni people and called for serious action to bring an end to the war on Yemen.

He urged Ban and al-Hussein to fulfill their responsibility to help the oppressed Yemenis.

More than 3000 people, including 700 women and children, have been killed and over 10000 more have been injured in Yemen as a result of Saudi attacks on the country, he noted.

Since March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies, without a UN mandate, have been carrying out deadly air strikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The Iranian official stressed that the Saudi-led coalition's use of banned weapons, such as phosphorus bombs and cluster bombs, their extensive destruction of Yemen's infrastructures, and their move to prevent the dispatch of aid to the war-torn country constitute war crimes according to international human rights regulations and The Geneva Conventions. 

Larijani further regretted that the UN Security Council and countries that claim to support human rights have failed to take serious action against the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen.

Following more than 100 days of airstrikes by the Riyadh-led coalition, UN agencies have reported a dire humanitarian situation in Yemen. 

Adrian Edwards, the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on Sunday said the agency has managed to distribute humanitarian aid across the eight Yemeni governorates of Abyan, Aden, Amanat al-Asimah, Amran, Hajjah, Hodeida, Sana’a and Ta’izz.

"The distributions came amid a worsening situation in many governorates. al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf governorate in the country's north, was hit by airstrikes for three consecutive days in late June causing the evacuation of an estimated 900 families," he said.

Edwards said that there are more than 21 million people in need throughout Yemen, adding that there are also over one million internally displaced people in the country.

"UNHCR continues to call for unfettered access and movements of humanitarian workers and its supplies so that vital assistance can reach those in need," he said.