"The United States, Britain, and France have been selling billions of dollars of
arms to the Saudis and their allies,” Edward Corrigan from Ontario said in an
interview with the Tasnim News Agency.
"The US and Britain have laws that prohibit the sale of arms to countries that
are involved in wars of aggression,” he added.
"If the US, Britain, and France were to stop selling arms to the countries
attacking Yemen this would bring about the necessary pressure to force the
attacking parties to negotiate peace,” the international lawyer stated.
The following is the full text of Interview:
Tasnim: More than three years into Yemen’s civil war, over 16,000 civilians
have been killed and injured, the vast majority by airstrikes, the UN human
rights office estimates, adding that the figures are likely to be far higher.
After the US Senate narrowly approved a $510 million first installment of
precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia last June, the kingdom said it would
launch a training program to reduce accidental targeting of civilians in Yemen.
But in the year since that announcement, civilian deaths were 7 percent more
than the year prior, UN data shows. In April alone, there were 236 civilians
killed and 238 injured — the deadliest month this year so far. A UN report in
June found 1,316 Yemeni children were killed or injured last year, and that more
than half of the casualties resulted from airstrikes. What is your assessment of
the heinous crimes committed by the Riyadh regime and its backers, mainly the
US?
Corrigan: Virtually every human rights organization has condemned the
Saudi-led coalition attacks against Yemen. The claim that Saudi Arabia and its
allies are trying to avoid civilian causalities is a lie as the number of
civilian deaths has gone up. There is no UN Security Council Resolution
authorization military action against Yemen. There is no legal justification for
the Saudi and UAE and their allies’ attacks on Yemen. The United States,
Britain, and France have been selling billions of dollars of arms to the Saudis
and their allies. The US and Britain have laws that prohibit the sale of arms to
countries that are involved in wars of aggression. However, they are more
interested in making money than in human rights. Clearly innocent civilians are
bearing the brunt of the attacks which have created the largest man-made
humanitarian crisis on the Planet. To date over 600,000 have been killed or
injured. The country is on the verge of mass starvation.
Tasnim: The United Nations has made a muted response to the Saudi-led
coalition’s crimes in the Arabian Peninsula country. What do you think? What
role can the international community play in protecting the lives of the
oppressed people of Yemen?
Corrigan: There is a definite role for the International community to bring
about the end of the conflict. The UN Security Council should pass a resolution
to bring about the end to the attacks and to urge the parties to resolve their
differences peacefully. However, this option is unlikely due to the veto power
that the United States, Britain, and France have at the Security Council. If the
US, Britain, and France were to stop selling arms to the countries attacking
Yemen this would bring about the necessary pressure to force the attacking
parties to negotiate peace.
Tasnim: Saudi Arabia said it was suspending oil shipments through the Red
Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most important tanker routes,
after Yemen’s Houthis attacked two ships in the waterway. Yemen’s Houthi
Ansarullah movement - which has joined hands with the country's army against the
Saudi-led coalition - says capital cities of the alliance will be "no longer
safe" from missiles fired in retaliation for the massive attacks on Yemen. What
do you think about the deterrent power of Yemen's Houthis and how do you predict
the future of the protracted war?
Corrigan: One of the main reasons why the Saudis, the UAE, and their allies
have attacked Yemen is due to its strategic location and that Yemen and the
Houthis can shut down the flow of oil through the strategic waterway. To my
knowledge, the Yemen army and their Houthi allies have not attacked the oil
tankers passing their border. Now the Houthis and their allies have escalated
their attacks on the oil tankers and have also attack ARAMCO production
facilities in Saudi Arabia. This is in response to the massive attacks on
Yemen's infrastructure, food production and the blockade that is preventing
medicine, food and fuel supplies from entering Yemen and the attacks against
Yemen's civilian population. The conflict is in a stalemate with neither side
having the ability to defeat the other. Hopefully, sanity will prevail and the
parties will resolve their differences through peaceful negotiations.
Source: Tasnim