In a Compromise, U.N. Rights Experts Will Examine Abuses in Yemen’s War<br />Earlier in September, Mr. al-Hussein, for the third year in a row, had urged creation of an international investigation panel as his office released a report presenting a litany of abuses by all parties involved in the conflict in Yemen, which has caused thousands of civilian casualties<br />and contributed to a staggering humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.<br />Saudi coalition airstrikes were the leading cause of civilian casualties, Mr. al-Hussein noted, scolding "the reticence of the international community in demanding justice for the victims of the conflict." Saudi Arabia<br />and its Arab allies called instead for the United Nations to provide international experts to support Yemen’s national commission — a position rejected by the other side because of that commission’s close relationship with the Saudis.<br />29, 2017<br />GENEVA — In a surprise compromise, the top United Nations human rights body decided on Friday to establish an<br />international team of experts to examine abuses in the Yemen war and seek to identify those responsible.<br />But compromise was harder to avoid this year, diplomats said, partly because of the deterioration of conditions in Yemen, now described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with seven million people verging on famine and a cholera epidemic<br />that threatens to sicken nearly a million people by year’s end.<br />Moreover, Yemen’s human rights commission, funded partly by Saudi Arabia, had proved unable in the last<br />year to conduct comprehensive, impartial or transparent investigations, the United Nations said.
