Violations of the Saudi-UAE alliance in Yemen in the hands of the British government

The Global Legal Action Network and the legal firm Bandmans have handed the British government a 288-page report that the Guardian newspaper says confirms that the Saudi-UAE coalition has concealed evidence of targeting civilians in air strikes in Yemen.

The report contains evidence obtained by Mwatana, an independent Yemeni human rights group, that contradicts the findings of coalition investigations into its airstrikes suspected of violating international humanitarian law.

According to the newspaper that the report received by British Minister of International Trade Liz Truss focuses on 16 cases in which the coalition denied the violations despite the evidence obtained by the "citizenship".

The report also shows that in four other cases, the Coalition's Joint Incident Assessment Team claimed to target military sites, although evidence obtained by Mwatana on the ground suggests otherwise.

The UK's government has two options: "rely on the credible findings of the Saudi investigation, or listen to those who have painstakingly documented the continuing civilian deaths from coalition raids," said Global Legal Action Network director Jeroen Quinn.

International positions
In June, the British government suspended the issuance of new licenses to export additional weapons to Saudi Arabia after the London Court of Appeal ruled that licenses to sell British arms to Riyadh were illegal, and on July 12 the Court of Appeal rejected the government's request to revoke the decision.

The Saudi-Emirati war in Yemen is widely criticized in the parliaments of the countries that export arms to Riyadh, especially the United States, Britain, Germany and France, as well as judicial institutions and human rights organizations, as these weapons killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians and spread disease and famine in Yemen.

US President Donald Trump on July 25 vetoed congressional resolutions to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

On June 26, Italy's lower house of parliament approved a bill that would halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, fearing they would be used in practices that violate international humanitarian law in Yemen.

In October 2018, Germany announced a halt to arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul and because of the Yemen war.

In November, Finland also announced a moratorium on arms and ammunition exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, citing the Khashoggi murder case and the role of the two countries in Yemen's humanitarian crisis.