[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Saturday expressed concern [press release] over civilian casualties resulting from Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The airstrikes that occurred on March 26th killed between eleven and 34 civilians, including at least two women and two children. HRW reported an inability to determine whether the attacks complied with the laws of war, which the International Committee of the Red Cross [official website] reminded [JURIST report] the parties involved to comply with earlier this week. HRW urged both Saudi Arabia and Yemen to join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions [official website], in fear that Saudi Arabia might resort to the use of such cluster bombs in the current conflict as it did in 2009.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen has sparked major international concern. Earlier this week during an emergency meeting, the UN special envoy to Yemen warned [JURIST report] the UN security Council that the situation in Yemen is teetering on the brink of civil war. In February UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged [JURIST report] Yemen to reinstate President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In November the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] expressed concern [JURIST report] over alleged human rights violations occurring in Yemen in recent months. In May HRW reported that traffickers in Yemen were holding [JURIST report] African migrants in detention camps and using torture as a method of extorting money from their families with the cooperation of local officials.