International Council Supporting Fair Trial and Human Rights condemns in the strongest terms the outrageous attack on a funeral in Sana’a on 8 September 2016 by the Saudi-led coalition.  Although there is the usual silence as to naming and denouncing the Saudi-led coalition for such horrific attack, Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that one of its coalition planes bombed the funeral hall.  140 people were killed, most of them civilians, and more than 500 others were injured, this number is the highest death toll in Yemen in the last two years.

This attack comes a week after the human rights council concluded its 33^rd session without setting up an independent, international inquiry into violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the country, in light of strong resistance by Saudi Arabia and other members of the international military coalition currently carrying out airstrikes in the country - different human rights organizations and the high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s call to create such independent international inquiry has been dismissed by the council for two years in a row thus heavily contributing to the prevalent culture of impunity. 

With the number of causalities rising by the day, since March 2015, at least 4,125 civilians have been killed and 7,207 injured in Yemen. We deplore such systemic inaction from the international community towards Yemen and reiterate our urgent call for an independent, international inquiry to investigate such violation and bring the authors of these violations to justice immediately.

Considering the continuous whitewashing of legal violations by the national commission of inquiry and the increasingly horrific levels of civilian casualties in Yemen, it is crucial to put an end to the ongoing systemic inaction.

What are we waiting for?