Amnesty urges UN to probe 'abuses' in Yemen conflict

Amnesty International on Friday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate abuses by all sides during the Yemen conflict that has killed 4,900 people in six months.

The rights group in a statement called on the council to "establish an investigation into violations of international humanitarian law and gross human rights abuses committed by all sides in Yemen".

More than 2,100 civilians, including at least 400 children, have been killed and more than 1.4 million displaced since a Saudi-led military coalition launched air strikes against Huthi rebels in Yemen in late March, Amnesty said.

"In the six months since the Saudi Arabia-led coalition began their campaign in Yemen, all sides have displayed a callous disregard for civilian life," said James Lynch, the group's deputy Middle East and North Africa director.

"It is time for the international community to stop turning its back on the victims of the crisis unfolding in Yemen and to take measures that will help end impunity, and send a clear message that perpetrators will be held to account," he said.

"The first step towards that goal should be a thorough, impartial and independent investigation."

The coalition, "backed by the USA and the UK", has caused "the vast majority of civilian deaths and injuries", Amnesty said, and has used "banned cluster munitions, which... have been found to be produced or designed in the USA".

The rebels also "endangered civilians by carrying out indiscriminate attacks and launching attacks in residential areas, including indiscriminate shelling of towns and cities in southern Saudi Arabia," the group said.

It accused members of the coalition and Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government of "attempting to block the establishment of a UN investigation into the conflict by the Human Rights Council" in Geneva.

Source: AFP