Conflicts to Watch in The New Millennium

On 4 April, the ICRC called for a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire after the coalition
blocked three aid shipments to Yemen. Russia also called for "humanitarian pauses" in
the coalition bombing campaign, bringing the idea before the United Nations Security
Council in a 4 April emergency meeting. Saudi Arabia's UN ambassador raised
questions over whether humanitarian pauses are the best way of delivering
humanitarian assistance. On 7 April, China renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire.
On 10 April, the Pakistani Parliament declined a Saudi Arabian request to join the
coalition. The Parliament clarified the wish to maintain a neutral diplomatic stance.
On 16 April a group of US and UK-based Yemen scholars wrote an open letter, stating
that the operation was illegal under international law and calling for the UN to enforce
an immediate ceasefire.
On 19 April, international aid agency Oxfam condemned SA over airstrikes it said hit
one of its warehouses containing humanitarian supplies in Saada.
Aid groups came out against the air campaign: Amnesty International said some of the
coalition's airstrikes "appear to have failed to take necessary precautions to minimize
harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects". Reporters without Borders condemned
a strike in Sanaa on 20 April that caused the deaths of four employees of Al-Yemen Al-
Youm TV and injured ten others; it also condemned attacks on journalists by pro-Houthi
forces.
On 4 May the UN called on the coalition to stop attacking Sanaa Airport to allow delivery
of humanitarian aid. On 10 May the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen stated that
the attacks on Saada province were in breach of international law. On 29 June,
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced a coalition airstrike that had hit a UN
compound in Aden the previous day and requested a full investigation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticized Saudi Arabian-led intervention in
Yemen
Human Rights Watch criticized the UN Security Council repeatedly for "remaining
almost silent on coalition abuses". In January 2016 an unpublished United Nations
panel investigating the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen uncovered "widespread
and systematic" attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law,
calling UN Security Council up for an international commission of inquiry. Saudi Arabia
had previously objected to an inquiry being set up, and had not been supported by
Western governments.
In February 2016 the Secretary-General of the UN (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon raised strong
concerns over continued Saudi-led airstrikes, saying that "coalition air strikes in
particular continue to strike hospitals, schools, mosques and civilian infrastructures" in
Yemen. He urged States that are signatories to the Arms Trade Treaty to "control arms
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