SAUDI ARABIA/UN: “The United Nations has placed Saudi Arabia on a draft blacklist of countries that kill and maim children in war, a contentious decision that, if finalized, could enrage one of the organization’s most generous donors.
A draft of the annual list, seen Wednesday [10-4-17] by The New York Times, includes the Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries that has bombed Yemen for more than two years in a war to rout Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control much of the country, including the capital, Sana.
The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, also are on the blacklist.
Subject to final revisions, the blacklist is expected to be made public in the coming days. United Nations officials declined to comment on the draft, which was first reported by Reuters.
Essentially a naming-and-shaming mechanism, the blacklist is one of the most politically sensitive documents published by the United Nations. It lumps government armies of some countries like Syria and Sudan together with extremist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State.
The United Nations describes it as a ‘list of parties that recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals, or abduct children in situations of armed conflict.’ “
-Rick Gladstone, “U.N. Draft Blacklist of Child Killers Includes Saudi Arabia,” The New York Times online, Oct. 4, 2017