Top Iranian Physician Deplores UN's U-Turn on Saudi Crimes in Yemen

In a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Dr Seyed Alireza Marandi leveled harsh criticism at the global body for its muted response to the Saudi-led military coalition’s atrocities against Yemeni people and children.

He also lamented that the UN removed the Saudi-led military campaign from the children's rights blacklist after being intimidated by the Riyadh regime.

The Saudi-led coalition –including Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan- was placed on the United Nations list over its military campaign against Yemen, after the UN report on children and armed conflict said the coalition was responsible for 60% of the 1,953 children recorded as killed or maimed in Yemen in 2015.

But on Wednesday, the UN removed the coalition from the blacklist. A diplomatic source has said there were “bullying, threats, pressure”, adding it was “real blackmail”.

What follows is Dr. Marandi’s letter to Ban:

Excellency,

A year after my May 18, 2015 letter to you protesting the United Nations' silence on Saudi Arabia's atrocities against Yemen's civilian population, we witnessed a very small but positive move when the UN finally blacklisted the Saudi regime for its killing of children in Yemen. Since the inception of this illegal war, we have been extremely disappointed that the United Nations has not even taken meaningful action in aiding the wounded and those in need of immediate assistance, especially given the year-long Saudi blockade preventing medical and food supplies from reaching millions of Yemeni people. Nevertheless, the international community -minus the United States and other Saudi allies- eagerly welcomed the blacklisting of the Saudi regime as a step in the right direction.

However, to our utter shock and amazement, less than a week after the listing, the Saudi regime's name was removed from the list. Most tragic of all was your personal admission that this decision was made after several members threatened to end their donations to the United Nations.

I have written this and previous letters about atrocities committed by the United States over illegal sanctions that imposed restrictions on food and medical supplies to Iran -in addition to missives about the violent atrocities of the Israeli apartheid regime and Saudi Arabia in Gaza and Yemen.

We believe that the United Nations belongs to all nations, but by your own admission, today wealth and power determine the decision making process in this organization. Where does that leave the overwhelming majority of the global population? How can you justify the UN's silence on the maimed, injured, orphaned, starving children of Yemen? 

It seems that the United Nations has practically admitted the loss of any moral legitimacy. The United Nations was set up explicitly and primarily to ensure peace and stability. Instead, it has become an organization that is enabling and prolonging war. Our expectation was that instead of bending to the blackmail of a few rogue nations and removing the Saudi regime from the list, you would take steps to force the Saudis to end this criminal war against the people of Yemen. Indeed, we demand that the UN decision be reversed and that meaningful steps are taken to restore a minimal degree of credibility to this world body that was meant to represent us all.