Yemen acknowledged the harm caused by explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation but otherwise did not commit to action on this issue.

Statements

As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Yemen aligned with the World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ in May 2016, including the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.”[1]

At the UN Security Council Open Debate War in Cities: Protection of Civilians in Urban Settings on 25 January 2022, Yemen said it was “surprised by the biased speaker” invited to brief the Council, referring to Radhya Al-Mutawakel of the Mwatana Organisation for Human Rights, who briefed the Council as a civil society representative living in conflict. Yemen argued that the Houthi militias, not Yemen or the Saudi-coalition, are violating IHL, using civilians as hostages and using schools as weapons.[2]

Yemen participated in the Vienna Conference on the Protection of Civilians in Urban Warfare in October 2019.[3]

[1] Agenda for Humanity. ‘Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).’ https://agendaforhumanity.org/stakeholder/233.html. 

[2]  Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will (2022). ‘UN Security Council Debates War in Cities and the Protection of Civilians’. https://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/news/latest-news/16009-un-security-council-debates-war-in-cities-and-the-protection-of-civilians.

[3] INEW (2019). ‘Vienna Conference Marks Turning Point as States Support Negotiation of an International Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons’. https://www.inew.org/vienna-conference-marks-turning-point-as-states-support-negotiation-of-an-international-political-declaration-on-explosive-weapons/.