UN caves in to Saudi blackmail over killing of children in Yemen

Crescent International

Ramadan 04, 1437 2016-06-09

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

The UN is a toothless body and a tool in the hands of predatory powers. Its Secretary General Ban ki-moon is totally spineless. This was demonstrated yet again when the Saudis used blackmailing tactics against the UN threatening to withhold funds unless their name was removed from the list of countries guilty of crimes against children. The Saudis and their Arabian allies have murdered more than 510 children in Yemen since March 2015.

New York,
Thursday June 09, 2016, 17:03 DST

The UN black listing of the Saudi regime and its Arabian allies last week evoked the ire of the dinosaurs of the desert. How dare the UN label Saudi Arabia for committing crimes against children in Yemen, they demanded to know.

The Saudi regime that is notorious for barbarism against domestic servants and other foreign workers at home demanded that unless the UN withdrew its designation of Saudi Arabia as a killer of children, the medieval kingdom would withdraw funding from a number of UN agencies including UNRWA that helps the Palestinians.

Far from standing up to principles, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon caved in on June 6 saying the Saudi placement on the black list was being suspended until further investigation.

The UN report on children and armed conflict found that 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year were caused directly by Saudi and its allies’ bombings. The UN report said 510 children were killed and 667 wounded.

The Saudi bombing of dirt-poor Yemen continues. At least 22 million of its 24 million people are food deficient as a direct result of the Saudi assault, according to the World Food Program. The Saudis and their equally barbaric partners have bombed schools, hospitals, power plants, factories as well as heritage sites.

The UN blacklisting of the Saudi regime and its allies could have resulted in war crimes charges being brought against them at the International Criminal Court.

While one UN official described the Saudi threats as a "full-court press" over the blacklisting, another diplomat called it "Bullying, threats, pressure." Reuters quoted another anonymous diplomatic source as saying the Saudi and its allies’ reaction to the blacklisting was "real blackmail."

There was even a threat of Saudi clerics issuing a fatwa against the UN declaring it “anti-Muslim”. These Saudi clerics have never found the courage to denounce the UN for its impotence over Zionist crimes against the hapless Palestinians but they take umbrage at the illegitimate Saudi regime being branded a child killer. This is what the regime is doing in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s UN Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, however, said "we don't use threats or intimidation," and Riyadh was "very committed to the United Nations." Mouallimi denied any threat of a possible fatwa.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed dismay at the UN caving to Saudi blackmailing tactics.

Philippe Bolopion, Human Rights Watch's deputy director for global advocacy, called this action “naked politicization” while Amnesty denounced it as “blackmail”.

While few people take the UN seriously seeing it as a tool in the hands of the US and the Zionist regime, its surrender to Saudi threats is seen as a new low for the organization.

UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon is seen as a weak chief and vulnerable to blackmail. In the final year of his second term, Ban’s retreat in the face of Saudi threats has damaged his already low credibility.

Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador Mouallimi not only alleged the annual UN report on states and armed groups that violate child rights in war as "wildly exaggerated" but also claimed the body had not consulted with the Saudi-led coalition before issuing its report.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, however, rejected this Saudi assertion on June 7 saying that the Saudis had been consulted.

Would the withdrawal of Saudi name from the list exonerate the regime of its crimes against children? All the perfume of Arabia would not be able to remove the stench that the Saudis have created by their despicable, inhumane and barbaric conduct.

END