11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

Atrocity Alert, No. 79, 8 No Images? Click here November 2017

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.

War crimes, starvation and the blockade

Following the ring of a ballistic missile into by Houthi forces, on 5 November the Saudi-led international military coalition intensied its blockade of Yemen, closing all air and sea ports. These severe measures were accompanied by the heaviest aerial bombardment by coalition forces of Sana’a governorate in over a year.

Yemen currently imports 90 percent of its staple food supplies. Because of the ongoing armed conict, an estimated 20.7 million people – three quarters of the population – require humanitarian assistance. At least 7 million people are also at risk of . The total closure of all ports will cut Yemen o from crucial food and medical supplies and will further exacerbate what has already become the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.

The UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, recently condemned the failure of all parties to the conict to protect civilians. On 1 November 31 people, including 6 children, were killed in a coalition airstrike on a market in Sa’ada governorate. Coalition airstrikes and shelling by Houthis in Sa'ada governorate and Taizz city also lead to the deaths of at least 12 people, including 8 children, between 1-3 November.

All UN member states should adhere to the arms embargo imposed on the Houthis, and stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and other parties to the conict who routinely violate international humanitarian law. The UN Security Council - which has not passed a substantive resolution on Yemen in over two years - should take urgent action to compel the Saudi-led http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 1/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

coalition to reopen Yemen’s ports to life-saving humanitarian aid.

Photo Source: AFP/Getty

Photo Source: Reuters/Naif Rahma

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 2/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

Populations at Risk: Yemen

UN Security Council condemns atrocities in Myanmar (Burma)

Since Myanmar’s military began so-called “clearance operations” in Rakhine State on 25 August, over 600,000 Rohingya refugees have ed to Bangladesh. While Myanmar’s government has claimed they will permit some Rohingya civilians to return, the authorities have begun seizing Rohingya land across Rakhine State. Local government ocials have indicated that conscated land will now be reclassied for other purposes, and that refugees will not necessarily be allowed to return to their previous villages. There have also been local reports of the authorities harvesting and seizing crops left by eeing Rohingya communities.

Meanwhile, on 6 November the UN Security Council nally adopted a Presidential Statement on the situation in Myanmar. The statement “strongly condemns the widespread violence” committed against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, and calls for the implementation of the recommendations of the Rakhine Commission led by former UN Secretary-General Ko Annan. The statement emphasized that Myanmar’s authorities have a responsibility to protect “its population including through http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 3/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

respect for the rule of law and the respect, promotion and protection of human rights.”

Action must now follow words. A number of UN member states have already suspended bilateral training programs with Myanmar’s military. But all senior ocers with command responsibility for “clearance operations” in Rakhine State should face targeted sanctions. In addition, all international trade, aid and investment programs in Rakhine State should be scrupulously reviewed. Myanmar’s military must not be allowed to prot from the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

Photo Source: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 4/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

Photo Source: Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

Joint NGO Letter Calling for Targeted Sanctions Against Myanmar Military Ocials

Populations at Risk: Myanmar (Burma)

ICC investigation in Afghanistan

A special report released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Tuesday, 7 November, documented a signicant increase in attacks targeting places of worship and persons exercising their right to religious worship since January 2016. Fifty-one attacks resulted in 850 civilian casualties, including 273 deaths. According to the report, since 2016 these attacks have been increasingly directed at Afghanistan's Shia minority by armed extremist groups.

On 3 November the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, also announced her decision to request authorization to open an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since July 2002. During 2016 the ICC reported that the Taliban and aliated armed groups have potentially committed crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians, while Afghan security forces and members of the ' armed forces and intelligence services may have also committed war crimes, including torture of prisoners.

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 5/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

A formal ICC investigation would be an important step towards ending the culture of impunity that has plagued Afghanistan. All armed groups and military forces operating within the country must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, and should fully cooperate with the ICC investigation.

Photo Source: Associated Press/Najim Rahim

Photo Source: AP/Rahmat Gul

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 6/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

Populations at Risk: Afghanistan

Connect With Us

Globalr2p.org

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 7/8 11/8/2017 createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5203 New York, NY 10016, USA

Phone: +1 212-817-1929 [email protected]

Copyright © 2017 Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect All rights reserved.

Tweet

Forward

Preferences | Unsubscribe

http://createsend.com/t/j-7FA5330459E9B37B2540EF23F30FEDED 8/8