United States of America: The issue of extrajudicial killings in Yemen Report submitted to the Human Rights Committee in the context of the review of the fourth periodic report of the United States of America 30 August 2013 Alkarama – 2bis Chemin des Vignes – 1209 Geneva – Switzerland +41 22 734 10 06 – F +41 22 734 10 34 - Email:
[email protected] – Url: www.alkarama.org About Alkarama Alkarama is a registered Swiss foundation headquartered in Geneva, established in 2004 by volunteer human rights lawyers and defenders. It works on human rights violations in the Arab world with offices and representatives in Lebanon (Beirut), Qatar (Doha), Cairo (Egypt) and Yemen (Sana’a). Its work focuses on four priority areas: extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention. Related activities include protecting human rights defenders and ensuring the independence of judges and lawyers. Alkarama engages with the United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms. It has submitted thousands of cases and urgent appeals to the Special Procedures of the UN, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and various UN human rights treaty bodies. Additionally, Alkarama has submitted numerous reports on the human rights situation in the Arab states reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review, and to the UN Special Procedures and human rights treaty bodies. Basing its work on principles of international human rights law and humanitarian law, Alkarama uses UN human rights mechanisms on behalf of victims of human rights violations and their families. It works constructively with sovereign states, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and national human rights institutions, as well as victims’ lawyers and human rights defenders.