General Debate under Agenda Item: 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

25 June 2018

Joint statement by: International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD) and Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ)

Delivered by: Ms. Sheefa Afath Shaik

Thank you, Mr. President,

The Yemeni population has been living in an ongoing civil war for more than four years now and is suffering from a grave humanitarian crisis, in which children are a category of the population that is most vulnerable. Besides being directly or indirectly affected by violations of international humanitarian law, minors are also facing several violations of their most basic human rights.

A high number of children are not going to school and do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. Furthermore, the food security crisis is highly alarming, with wide spread of malnutrition. As a result, minors are weaker and more vulnerable when affected by different diseases present in the country, such as cholera.

We are particularly concerned by the humanitarian situation in which the population is living in, and we want to stress the importance and urgency to establish a ceasefire agreement until a political solution will not be reached. This is essential in order to protect and save the life of many innocent children.

EAFORD and Geneva International Centre for Justice calls on all parties to the conflict to respect their human rights and international humanitarian law obligations. Furthermore, all forms of violence and human rights violations against civilians should be halted. In order to alleviate the great civilian’s suffering, it is of vital importance that all parties to the conflict ensure secure access and safe working conditions to humanitarian professionals, as should be guaranteed according to international humanitarian law.

Thank you.