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	Explosive weapons: Civilians in populated areas must be protected by ICRC, MSF, UN News, agencies   22 Jan. 2022   Saudi-led coalition air strike on prison kills and injures hundreds   The UN chief has condemned airstrikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition that struck a detention centre holding migrants in the city of Saada in Yemen, which have left at least 80 people dead, and over two hundred people injured.   Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) put the number of wounded alone at “over 200”. Ahmed Mahat, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, said they had reports of “many bodies still at the scene of the air strike, many missing people”.   Another Saudi air raid on Friday in the port city of Hodeidah hit a telecommunication centre that is key to Yemen’s connection to the internet. The strike on the building killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. Save the Children said at least three children were killed in the Hodeidah attack. On Tuesday, at least 14 people were killed in Saudi air raids in Sanaa.   The intense bombing campaign comes after the Houthi forces launched a drone and missile attack that struck inside the United Arab Emirates capital earlier this week killing 3 people. The UAE is a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi forces in Yemen, that have been carrying out air strikes in Yemen since 2015.   Eight aid agencies operating in Yemen said in a joint statement that they were “horrified” the killing in Saada, which included women and children.   “Migrants seeking better lives for themselves and their families, Yemeni civilians injured by the dozens, is a picture we never hoped to wake up to in Yemen,” said Gillian Moyes, Save the Children’s director in Yemen.   Jan. 2022   ‘Unjustifiable’ Saudi-led coalition air strike on prison kills and injures hundreds. (MSF)   An air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on Sa'ada City Remand Prison in the early hours of 21 January has killed at least 82 people and injured 266, according to the Ministry of Health, with the death toll likely to increase as researchers still comb the rubble.   Two MSF staff who are residents in Sa’ada City and were in their houses close to the prison at the time of the air strike described hearing fighter jets and then three separate explosions.   “There is no way to deny that this is an air strike, everyone in Sa’ada City heard it,” says an MSF staff member. “I live one kilometre from the prison and my house was shaking from the explosions.”   The Saudi-led coalition has been regularly bombing areas under Ansar Allah control since 2015 and has hit MSF and MSF-supported hospitals five times, along with many other civilian targets.   A Saudi Coalition statement called reports that the prison had been hit and detainees hurt “baseless and unfounded”, but an MSF staff member who visited the site of the prison confirmed it had been destroyed, and a second MSF staff member present in al-Gumhouriyyeh Hospital in the city described a hospital overwhelmed with the wounded.   “The hospital is facing a very difficult situation this morning, with casualties lying on the floor,” he says. “There are not enough beds for all of the wounded.”   MSF organised donations of medical equipment to al-Gumhourriyeh Hospital in the immediate aftermath of the air strike and sent a truck with more donations from Sana’a the same day. We are working with the Ministry of Health to see how we can further support the hospital to deal with this influx of casualties.   “This is the latest in a long line of unjustifiable air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led Coalition on places like schools, hospitals, markets, wedding parties and prisons,” says Ahmed Mahat, MSF Head of Mission in Yemen. “Since the beginning of the war we have frequently witnessed the terrible effects of indiscriminate Coalition bombing on Yemen, including when our own hospitals have been attacked.   “In recent days we have witnessed a worrying escalation in the war in Yemen, with many air strikes on Sana’a throughout the week, which have continued this morning,” says Mahat. “The internet has been cut off for most of the country, again reportedly after a Saudi-led Coalition air strike on a telecommunication building in Hodeida.   “There has also been heavy fighting recently on frontlines throughout the country. All this shows that despite the war having dragged on for seven years the end of suffering for people in Yemen is nowhere in sight.” http://bit.ly/3fQQwoe   Jan. 2022   Jamal Benomar, a former UN special envoy for Yemen, said the air raids are the latest in a series of war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition.   “There has been no accountability whatsoever since the start of this war. It’s a failure not only from the United States but the permanent members of the Security Council.   “The reality is that all the five members instead of cooperating to try to find a way on how to compel the Saudis to end the war in Yemen and compel the Yemeni sides to enter in good faith in a political process, to end this strife, they have in fact been competing for lucrative contracts with Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” he said.   “So the highest body in the world, in the United Nations, the Security Council, the members have not played, I’m afraid, a positive role in the last few years."   Nov 2021   A United Nations report has projected that the death toll from Yemen’s war will reach at least 377,000 by the end of 2021, including those killed as a result of indirect and direct causes.   The report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that 70 percent of those killed are children under the age of five.   It found that 60 percent of deaths would have been the result of indirect causes, such as hunger and preventable diseases, with the remainder a result of direct causes like front-line combat and air raids.   “In the case of Yemen, we believe that the number of people who have actually died as a consequence on conflict exceeds the numbers who died in battlefield,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said.   Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when the Houthi rebel movement seized much of the northern part of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, as the government fled. In March 2015, a coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the war with the aim of restoring the government.   The conflict has been deadlocked for years, with Yemen teetering at the brink of a famine, and tens of thousands of people killed. The situation in the country has been described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. At least 15.6 million people are living in extreme poverty and suffering alarming food insecurity.   http://www.wfp.org/emergencies/yemen-emergency   Jan. 2022   Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - on deadly airstrikes in Yemen - Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General (UN News)   The Secretary-General condemns the airstrikes launched earlier today by the Saudi-led Coalition against a detention center in Saada city. Initial reports indicate at least 80 deaths and some 200 injured among the inmates. Further airstrikes have been reported elsewhere in Yemen, also with reports of deaths and injuries among civilians, including children. An airstrike on telecommunications facilities in Hudaydah has also significantly disrupted vital internet services across much of the country.   The Secretary-General reminds all parties that attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law. He further reminds all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure that civilians are protected against the dangers arising from military operations, adhering to the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution.   The Secretary-General calls for prompt, effective and transparent investigations into these incidents to ensure accountability.   The Secretary-General calls for urgent de-escalation of the situation and urges the parties to engage with his Special Envoy to advance the political process to reach a negotiated settlement to end the conflict. Recalling the severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen, he urges donors and all other stakeholders to enable humanitarian relief efforts with adequate funding, access and other support.   Jan. 2022   Yemen: ICRC expresses deep concern about the human toll caused by escalating violence   The ICRC is deeply concerned about the intensification of hostilities over recent days, including attacks against cities across Yemen, in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates, and deplores the human toll this escalation has caused.   "It is essential that we protect the lives of people in armed conflict. The human toll that we witness in Yemen is unacceptable," states Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East.   "Civilians living in densely populated areas have been exposed to increased attacks, causing death and injury and deepening the psychological trauma among the affected communities after seven years of war," he explains.   The ICRC calls on the parties to the conflict in Yemen to spare civilian life, property and infrastructure that is essential for the survival of the population. This includes hospitals, schools, residential buildings, installations supplying the populations with water and electricity, transportation infrastructure as well as prisons and other places of detention.   Like civilians, detainees are protected under international humanitarian law; every effort must be taken to ensure that they do not become victims of the ongoing hostilities.   "The lack of a credible peace process increases the chances that a similar tragedy will occur again," said Fabrizio Carboni. "Only negotiations in good faith, based on guarantees for the Yemeni people, will increase prospects for a better future."   http://www.icrc.org/en/document/yemen-icrc-expresses-deep-concern-about-human-toll-caused-escalating-violence http://www.un.org/sg/en/node/261529 http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110552 http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110522 http://www.nrc.no/news/2022/january/70-killed-in-yemen/ http://www.hi-us.org/aid-agencies-dozens-killed-overnight-yemen http://www.wfp.org/emergencies/yemen-emergency Visit the related web page
	Governments still routinely fail to implement the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment by OHCHR, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)   Mar. 2022   Unless States start “walking their talk” the torture ban will remain “pie in the sky” – UN expert. (OHCHR)   A UN expert today warned the Human Rights Council that governments in all regions of the world still routinely fail to implement the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.   Taking stock during his sixth and final year as the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Nils Melzer deplored that States had a “generalized, strongly distorted self-perception” regarding their own compliance with the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.   “While governments readily promote respect for human rights in other States, they rarely, if ever, show genuine political will to address violations or shortcomings within their own jurisdictions,” he said.   Melzer also criticised States’ ineffective cooperation with his office. “When faced with allegations of torture, governments almost invariably tend to deny, justify or trivialize such abuse, avoid accountability, procrastinate reforms, and deprive victims of redress and rehabilitation,” said the expert.   “Whenever I insist, States tend to adopt a progressively defensive, evasive, obstructive or even aggressive stance, or they simply terminate the dialogue altogether.”   The expert reiterated his recommendation to the Office of the High Commissioner to lead a multi-stakeholder process aiming to identify agreed standards for assessing and improving the effectiveness of the interaction of States with mandated human rights experts in all areas of their work, including official communications, country visits and thematic reporting.   “I must admit that my outlook is bleak,” Melzer said as he presented his concluding report to the Human Rights Council.   “As long as governments fail to evolve beyond their currently predominant attitude of indifference, self-righteousness and denial, torture and ill-treatment will remain widespread, and impunity rampant throughout the world, traumatizing millions of victims without any prospect of justice and dignity.   “Unless governments finally start walking their talk, the worldwide eradication of torture and ill-treatment will remain pie in the sky,” he said.   “Today, as my time in office comes to an end, I would like to thank the Council and all UN Member States for their confidence and for the many frank and constructive exchanges held during my tenure, and I look forward to continuing our fruitful cooperation in my new function,” Melzer added.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/unless-states-start-walking-their-talk-torture-ban-will-remain-pie-sky-un   Dec. 2021 (OMCT)   Torture is present at every point on the migration roads in Africa, says a report published today by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).   The report, titled The Torture Roads – The Cycle of Abuse against People on the Move in Africa, is the first to analyse comprehensively the experiences of migrants on the continent. It is the result of a unique collective research spanning two years, and covering eight countries in West, Central, East and North Africa that include places of origin and transit for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who seek security, protection, and a better life.   The research was carried out by a working group comprised of 10 human rights organisations from Africa and Southern Europe specialising in migration and torture, who interviewed over 250 refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants, as well as humanitarian workers and government officials.   “While migratory movements to Europe keep attracting a lot of attention, the strong nexus between migration and torture has largely remained in the shadows,” said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.   “Our research exposes a crude reality: torture and other forms of ill-treatment are a trigger to migration; they are ubiquitous on the migration roads, where they have dramatically worsened over recent years; and finally, the vast majority of victims never receive any form of treatment, despite having suffered horrendous abuse.”   The report combines stories of violence and extortion by officials at borders, of human trafficking, forced prostitution and rape at the hands of criminal gangs, with comprehensive analysis of relevant legal frameworks.   It also highlights how migration agreements signed by the European Union (EU) and some of its member States with a number of African countries have contributed to an increase in the exposure of migrants to this litany of abuse.   The report offers a comprehensive series of recommendations to States, regional groups and international organisations, including the creation of safe and legal pathways to Europe.   “Torture on the migration routes is not collateral damage. It is facilitated by national laws and policies that criminalise migrants“, said Isidore Ngueuleu, head of OMCT’s Africa desk.   “The debate here is not about accepting migrants in our societies or not. It is about ending this appalling cycle of torture, sanctioning the perpetrators and rehabilitating survivors. Countries cannot close their eyes simply because these people are not their citizens.”   The report is a call to refocus on migration policies locally, regionally, and globally, integrating the protection of migrants and the prevention of torture as a priority.   “In light of the real experiences of migrants, it is urgent to critically rethink externalisation policies by the EU and its members States and to redefine international support to often abusive border and law enforcement structures in Africa,” said Aminate Dieye, Chairperson of the working group. “The answer to this largely overlooked crisis is more rule of law, more protection and less repression”.   http://www.omct.org/en/resources/reports/africa-new-report-exposes-torture-as-a-defining-feature-of-the-migration-journey   * Joint report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch raises alarm at the scale of abuses in war-hit Ethiopia: http://bit.ly/3p2ThZ5 http://bit.ly/3ywR4br http://bit.ly/3E7vuv8 Visit the related web page
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