International humanitarian law is a collection of rules that are meant to reduce the effect of armed conflict, especially on civilians.  These rules come from international agreements like the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, which are broadly recognized but often ignored.  Highlighting the violations of international humanitarian law, however, is an important step to holding people accountable and emphasizing its importance.  To that end, I have put together an incomplete list of the violations occurring in Yemen.

One crucial aspect of international humanitarian law is protecting children.  Many of these provisions specifically come from the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.  Children are among the most vulnerable people in conflict areas, and they are often hit the hardest.  There are currently more than 12 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, and they have been directly targeted and harmed by many of the actions taken by both the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis.  For example, there were 153 recorded airstrikes on or near schools between 2015 and 2019.  Additionally, there were 171 recorded instances of military use of schools, as well as several other forms of attacks.  The 2000 Optional Protocol specifically opposes “direct attacks on objects protected under international law, including places that generally have a significant presence of children, such as schools.”

The violations of this provision and principle of international humanitarian law have had dire consequences for children in Yemen.  There were already more than 2 million children out of school before the pandemic began.  Very few efforts have been made by either warring party to fulfill their legal duty to ensure that all children, including those who have been displaced, have access to education.  On all levels, the treatment of young people and the carelessness with their education from all parties to the conflict has blatantly disregarded not only the importance of this issue but also its legal recognition.

The conflict has not only destroyed schools; it has been all too generous in its destruction of infrastructure.  Notably, hospitals, which are to be protected as safe zones according to Article 14 of Geneva Convention IV, have faced constant attack.  By the end of 2019, there had already been more than 130 attacks on medical facilities in Yemen, and there have been several others over the past year and a half.  This has contributed to a crumbling healthcare system that has exacerbated the effects of the cholera outbreak that began in 2016 and the wounds people have faced as a direct result of the conflict.

Perhaps the greatest violation of international humanitarian law, however, has been in the creation of famine conditions.  The Saudi-led coalition maintained a land, sea, and air blockade for several years, which prevented much vital aid from reaching civilians.  At the same time, the Houthis have sometimes rejected incoming food aid, and Houthi officials have been accused of stealing aid meant to go to civilians to support their military efforts.  These actions violate Article 23 of Geneva Convention IV, which mandates “the free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs.”  This rejection of international humanitarian law and prioritization of military goals has come at the expense of the 14 million Yemeni people at risk of starving and the 500,000 already living in famine-like conditions.  Included in this group are 2.3 million children under the age of five who are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year.

These human rights abuses demand urgent action, and the framework for that action already exists on an international scale.  There is no shortage of provisions condemning the actions of warring parties in Yemen.  There is, however, an unwillingness to point out these violations for what they are rather than just as tragedies.  Attempts to support peace processes are also often quick to criticize one party for their violations of human rights while ignoring the clear evidence that both sides have rejected their standard.  There is no moral high ground for either side.  Both have valid concerns about being represented in government and protecting their safety, which must be addressed in a way that includes and uplifts civilians.  For now, however, all action must be taken to protect innocent people and end the destruction of the infrastructure they rely on.

Join STAND’s Yemen Action Committee to get involved in our advocacy.

Mira Mehta is a senior at Westfield High School. She is the co-lead of the Yemen Action Committee and was previously the New Jersey State Advocacy Lead. She was a member of the Communications Task Force for two years before that.

At STAND, we understand that collaborating with other students strengthens our organization, furthers our mission, and allows us to produce more valuable and impactful work.  As such, we are excited to announce a new partnership between STAND and the R2P Student Journal at Leeds.

The Responsibility to Protect Student Journal is a global, student-led, free online journal that aims to provide a platform for undergraduate and postgraduate students to publish their academic work on R2P and related topics, including international humanitarian law, human rights, international criminal justice, and, genocide and mass atrocity prevention. The Journal was founded in 2015 by a group of students from the University of Leeds and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. After careful discussion, our organizations have decided to join forces to advance academic research on mass atrocity prevention, R2P, peacebuilding, and human rights.

Because STAND knows that approaches to genocide and mass atrocity prevention are multilateral and layered, we are thrilled to expand our existing genocide prevention initiatives into academia. Additionally, the R2P Student Journal looks forward to broadening its submission criteria to include atrocity prevention and peacebuilding.

This partnership will broaden the scope of the Journal, allow STAND representatives to both submit and be involved in the peer review process, will enlarge the Journal’s audience and number of potential collaborators, and will allow STAND and other advocacy organizations to inform forthcoming policies and campaigns with accurate research.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for excellent student essays and dissertation excerpts for the R2P Student Journal and short commentaries, analytical pieces, and creative work for our Blog. We welcome submissions on R2P-related topics including mass atrocity prevention, humanitarian intervention, international criminal justice, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, genocide, international humanitarian law, UN Security Council decision making. This is not an exhaustive list, so please get in touch with us if you are unsure of whether your work meets our admissibility criteria.

Author guidelines for Journal submissions

Word count: 2,500-6,000 words (footnotes and bibliography not included). Shorter pieces may be considered for the blog (see below).

Referencing: Please use the Harvard referencing style and include a full bibliographic reference list for each source quoted.

Plagiarism: If your essay was written as part of an assessment item for a course, we advise you submit it to the R2P Student Journal after your essay was marked so that you do not plagiarise yourself.

Language: Submissions must be in English. British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent. Please edit your piece before submitting. Submissions must not be under consideration with other publishers, and must not be already published elsewhere.

Formatting rules

• All headings must be in bold and be left-aligned. Subheadings should be italicised. Any custom formatting must be removed before submission.

• Do not indent the first sentence of a paragraph. Leave one line of space between each paragraph.

• Do not italicise any quotations. Place all quotations in single quotation marks and indent quotes over 40 words.

• Please remove any images (unless they are your own original work) from the essay before submission.

Author guidelines for Blog submissions

We welcome contributions on current developments in and reflections on humanitarian crises, mass atrocity prevention, peacebuilding, advocacy efforts and other R2P related themes. The blog is a space for youth to express their thoughts or experiences regarding these themes through commentaries, analytical pieces and creative work (poems, photography, video, short documentary etc.).

Word count: For commentary and analytical pieces, aim for 500-800 words. Longer pieces may be considered.

Referencing: Where possible, include hyperlinks. Otherwise, please use the Harvard referencing style.

Language: Submissions must be in English. If you have a good piece but do not feel confident enough with your level of English, please get in touch. Our editorial team will be happy to work with you to refine your work and provide further guidance.

Formatting rules

• All headings must be in bold and be left-aligned. Subheadings should be italicised. Any custom formatting must be removed before submission.

• Do not indent the first sentence of a paragraph. Leave one line of space between each paragraph.

• Do not italicise any quotations. Place all quotations in single quotation marks and indent large quotes.

FAQ:

Q: Who can submit?

A: Any undergraduate or postgraduate (including research) student can submit their work for the Journal. We welcome submissions from university students all over the world as long as they are in English (translated pieces are acceptable). If you have already graduated, we are happy to accept the article if it was written within 12 months of your graduation date. Please state in your submission email whether you are a current or former student and when your article was written.
For the Blog, we welcome submissions from young people, regardless of their student status.

Q: When can I submit?

A: We publish two Journal issues every year. For our Spring issue, the deadline for submissions is April 30, 2017.

We welcome blog submissions all year round. We aim to respond to you with our decision on whether your article/blog will be published or requires revision within 2 weeks of submission.

Q: How to submit?

A: If you decided to submit your work to the R2P Student Journal or the Blog, please download this Submission form, fill it in and send it with your essay to r2pstudentjournal@gmail.com. Please make sure you have made all the modifications in line with the formatting rules set out above.

Q: What about copyright?

A: We believe in open access and the free-flow of information. The R2P Student Journal is a cost-free resource and free to share or cite as long as you give appropriate credit in accordance to Creative Commons licensing.