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UN sacrificing Yemeni children for Saudi money: Activist

A Yemeni child suffering from leukemia lies in a hospital bed at a Kuwaiti hospital on November 6, 2016 in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. (Photo by AFP)

Saudi Arabia’s relentless aerial campaign has left millions of Yemenis in urgent need of food and medical supplies. According to the World Health Organization, more than half of Yemen's hospitals and clinics are either closed or functioning partially. Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned about the outbreak of infectious diseases in the country, particularly Cholera.

Talking to Press TV, Massoud Shadjareh, the head of Islamic Human Rights Commission, blamed Saudi Arabia’s Western sponsors for the sufferings of Yemeni civilians, saying that the recent UN report is another proof of war crimes committed by Saudi officials which need to be addressed urgently at the highest level of the United Nations.

“This is a catastrophe which is being created by the illegal actions of Saudi Arabia and its allies, supported by the United States and the West, bombing the poorest country in the world. The reality is that there is no international action to stop this barbaric action" which is taking the lives of innocent civilians, many of them children, Shadjareh said.

Something needs to be done urgently, he noted, adding that although there is a recognition that there is no military solution to the situation in Yemen, Saudis continue to bomb civilians there. "This is outrageous."

He further called on international tribunals to take action not only against the Saudi royal family but also against their supporters, arguing that Riyadh is not able to continue its aggression without the US and Britain's arms supplies.

“The international community has got a lot to answer," he said, adding that the Saudi war machine is being operated by the United States and Britain and without their weapons, Saudi warmongers will not be able to continue their aggression. "Under the international law, they are committing war crimes.”

Shadjareh also accused the UN officials of being indifferent to the misery of Yemeni people, asserting that they are selling children's blood to the money they receive from Saudi authorities.

"I think the UN has already highlighted it is incompetent to do anything," he said pointing to Saudi Arabia as a significant source of funding for the UN. "So, the children of Yemen are being sacrificed for the financing of the UN."

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back the former Yemeni government to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The impoverished Arab country is grappling with food scarcity and outbreak of diseases amid Saudi Arabia’s atrocious airstrikes and blockade.


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