February 2021 – In a joint letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC), fourteen international civil society organizations, including Watchlist, call on Security Council members to begin paving the way towards justice for Yemen. The letter calls on the Council to immediately pursue concrete steps to advance a holistic and credible accountability and redress strategy for Yemen by implementing the UN Human Rights Council Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen’s (GEE) recommendations to bring perpetrators of international crimes to justice and protect victims’ right to a remedy (including reparations), and by implementing the UNSC Sanctions Committee Panel of Experts on Yemen’s (POE) recommendations to address the impunity driving the deterioration of the country’s conflict and humanitarian situation.
The promise of credible accountability and redress is the only real guarantor for durable peace in Yemen. In the absence of justice, the same individuals and entities that have already caused untold suffering to civilians in Yemen, including by undermining peace and stability in the country, will continue to act unrestrained. This behavior, emboldened by impunity, threatens Yemen, the region, and the entire international system.
Read the joint letter: Ensure Accountability for Yemen at the UN Security Council.
