Tribune: UNITED NATIONS: A coalition of human rights groups on Wednesday criticised Britain for weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia, saying arms sales to Riyadh would violate a global treaty regulating trade in munitions. The British government rejected the criticism, saying it was in full compliance with its treaty obligations.
Control Arms – a cluster of rights groups such as Amnesty International, Oxfam and Transparency International that focuses on arms control – said it sought an expert legal opinion from Philippe Sands, an attorney at the law firm Matrix Chambers and professor at University College in London.
UK to halt arms exports to Saudi if humanitarian laws broken – foreign minister
Sands’ found that “available evidence and information provides prima facie evidence that the Saudi-led coalition has engaged in attacks directed against the civilian population” in the war in Yemen. Nearly 6,000 people, almost half of them civilians, have died since Saudi-led air strikes began in March.
A seven-day truce began on Tuesday in Yemen to coincide with the peace talks to try to end a nine-month-old civil war between Iran-backed Houthis based in north Yemen and Saudi-backed southern and eastern fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
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