Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the situation in Yemen
Distinguished colleagues,
We thank Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Hans Grundberg and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths for providing a review of the political and humanitarian situation in Yemen.
We closely follow the escalation of hostilities in Yemen (i.a. in Marib and Shabwa provinces) that assumes a violent character, increases the number of casualties among civilians, as well as refugees and IDPs.
We are seriously concerned over the continuing attacks on civil facilities both in Yemen and beyond its borders – in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. We are convinced that such attempts to transfer hostilities from Yemen to the territory of neighboring states are fraught with further escalation of violence. At the same time we must say that reciprocal strikes and related violations of the international humanitarian law are a direct consequence of the acute military and political crisis that has lasted for almost 7 years and that poses a real threat to regional security with this new spiral of escalation.
In this regard, we strongly call upon the opposing sides to strictly abide by the international humanitarian law, fully and immediately reject all combat operations that destroy non-military infrastructure and cause casualties among civilians. We are very concerned by the growing number of such incidents that occurred recently.
On our part, we will further encourage the official Yemeni authorities and the leadership of “Ansar Allah” movement to act constructively and be ready for compromise when addressing the existing disputes. We believe our common goal is to ensure a comprehensive and lasting resolution of Yemen’s numerous problems that also affect the neighboring states.
We traditionally assign the central role in this process to the United Nations and SESG for Yemen Mr.Hans Grundberg who was received at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 26 November 2021. SESG Grundberg, we support your mediator activities and trust that soon you will come up with concrete modalities of a roadmap for settlement that should be inclusive and based on the principle of accounting for the opinions of all elements of the Yemeni community, representatives of all political forces, confessions, and regions of the country. Therefore we support your plans to convene consultations with all Yemeni stakeholders regarding new framework parameters of the settlement.
Against faltering political settlement, we are particularly worried over the dire socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen that is balancing on the verge of a disaster. As we heard today, this is true for all areas of Yemen, whoever may control them. None of Yemen’s districts can be called a safe place in terms of sustainable food and medical provision. In this regard, we again address all sides to the conflict and remind of the need to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need; lift air, land, and sea blockade of the country; and cancel restrictions on deliveries of food, medications, and other basic goods to all areas of Yemen without exception.
In conclusion, we would like to stress that the conflict in Yemen has a region-wide impact, as it affects safety of navigation. We also remind of UNSC resolution 598 and other initiatives, including Russian collective security concept that is designed to stabilize the situation in the Persian Gulf region.
Thank you.
