Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on Yemen
Mr. President,
We are grateful to the Secretary General's Special Envoy for Yemen Mr. Hans Grundberg, and Acting UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ms. Joyce Msuya for their briefings. We listened carefully to Linda Al-Obahi as well.
The situation in that country, as has been attested to by today's speakers, is steadily deteriorating. We still fail to revitalize the Yemeni settlement. Internal infighting is exacerbated by region-wide turbulence, which is directly affecting developments in Yemen.
However, the fact that a large-scale escalation has so far been averted proves that the Yemeni protagonists are still interested in pursuing the dialog. It is important to support this disposition of the parties to the conflict, prompt them to seek mutually acceptable solutions and warn them against taking new abrupt steps, including in the socio-economic sphere, which in the long run could generate grave political risks and make the lives of ordinary Yemenis all the more difficult.
We trust that Mr. Grundberg will pursue his proactive efforts to revitalize the negotiation process, inter alia, through the launch of a road map involving all Yemeni protagonists, including the Ansar Allah movement, and leading regional players. We also recall the need to update over time the legal framework for the Yemeni settlement.
Mr. President,
We, like our other colleagues on the Council, are concerned about the situation with the 13 UN employees detained in Yemen earlier in June. No matter how serious the allegations against them are, these people should be provided with necessary medical and humanitarian assistance and should have an opportunity to communicate with their families. We deem unacceptable any actions that violate the privileges and immunities of UN agencies and personnel.
Such actions are unacceptable, however, not only in Yemen but also in other parts of the world – no double standards can be applied here. In this regard, we can hardly understand why some UNSC membersare are, on the one hand, so insistent in demanding that the Houthis release the detainees but, on the other, shamefully ignore what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. Why do they fail to voice similar demands to Israel, which has detained UNRWA staff without any compelling justifications? Why are they not demanding their release? And if West Jerusalem refers to the need to carry out some additional investigation vis-à-vis the detainees, then we all should insist that the deaths of humanitarian workers in Gaza and the West Bank be thoroughly investigated as well. Let me remind you that during the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there have been reported the deaths of at least 286 humanitarian workers, 209 of whom are UN staff, and to a greater extent, these are UNRWA staff (205 people). Yesterday saw another Israeli strike on a school, which resulted in the deaths of 6 more UNRWA staff. And that's just the humanitarian personnel. Journalists have also increasingly fallen victim (more than 160 people have been killed), as well as medical personnel (500 people). However, to date, we have no information regarding bringing the perpetrators to justice. We even don't know if such investigations are actually under way. We call on Council members to demonstrate unity and consistency on this issue as well.
Mr. President,
The humanitarian situation in Yemen has hit new lows. The number of starving people, including children, is increasingly growing. More than half a million people have been affected by the devastating storms and flooding, especially on the west coast of the country. The cholera epidemic continues to rage, with hundreds of thousands of people infected and hundreds of people dead. At the same time, insufficient funding severely limits the ability of humanitarian workers to curb the spread of the disease. The year is drawing to a close, but the UN humanitarian plan for Yemen is still only 29 percent funded. The situation is critical and requires joint efforts by the entire international community. At the same time, we must all bear in mind the need to address the basic issues of maintaining peace and security both within the country and in the region as a whole.
What is imperative here is, inter alia, ending hostilities in the Red Sea. This, however, is impeded by the willingness of the US and the UK to continue military confrontation with Ansar Allah. Instead of seeking effective ways to quell the current unprecedented escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – which the Houthis have identified as the reason for their actions – they [the US and the UK] have resorted to aggressive actions against sovereign Yemen further aggravating the situation.
I would like to make it clear: we are not justifying the actions of Ansar Allah in the Red Sea. Russia condemns attacks on commercial vessels and calls for the refrain from any measures that violate the freedom of international navigation, and we urge for the release of the Galaxy Leader and its crew, who have been in detention for almost 10 months. We are also extremely concerned about the fate of the Sounion tanker, which is adrift off the coast of Yemen, as the fire there has not yet been extinguished.
Nothing of the above-mentioned, however, can justify gross violations of Yemen's sovereignty and strikes on its territory. And that's exactly what the western coalition is doing. There is a real risk that – if the situation remains unchanged – the results of the long and painstaking mediation effort to find solutions (acceptable to Yemenis) on parameters of the Yemeni political process will be jeopardized. We are convinced that the UNSC should do everything possible to avoid such a scenario.
Thank you for your attention.
