{"id":891562,"date":"2022-11-21T20:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=415014"},"modified":"2022-11-21T20:00:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T20:00:12","slug":"house-members-push-for-u-n-oversight-of-yemen-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/11\/21\/house-members-push-for-u-n-oversight-of-yemen-atrocities\/","title":{"rendered":"House Members Push for U.N. Oversight of Yemen Atrocities"},"content":{"rendered":"
As the United States\u2019<\/u> relationship to Saudi Arabia shifts, a group of congressional Democrats led by Reps. Ilhan Omar and Joaquin Castro is pushing to reestablish oversight of atrocities committed during the Saudi-led coalition\u2019s war in Yemen.<\/p>\n
The U.S. relationship to the kingdom has been strained<\/a>\u00a0since President Joe Biden came into office promising to hold Saudi Arabia accountable<\/a> for the killing of Washington Post\u00a0contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Late last week, it emerged that Biden\u00a0requested\u00a0sovereign immunity for Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, in the lawsuit over Khashoggi\u2019s murder. And on Monday, OPEC+, the coalition of oil-producing countries heavily influenced by Saudi Arabia, announced it would increase oil production, fulfilling a long-term ask<\/a> by the Biden administration.<\/p>\n Asked about these developments, Omar said, \u201cOur foreign policy should not be based on a dependence on oil or the geopolitical whims of foreign despots. It should be based on the rule of law and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n An opportunity for accountability is coming up later this week when the United Nations Human Rights Council convenes an emergency session to discuss the protests in Iran, a major backer of Yemen\u2019s Houthis. While oversight of the Yemen war is not immediately on the agenda, the matter is sure to arise in the council\u2019s next general session, which convenes in March.<\/p>\n On Friday, 13 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter<\/a> asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to use their influence in these upcoming sessions to push for a reinstatement of the Group of Eminent Experts, or GEE: an independent international oversight body that previously reported on the litany of human rights abuses and war crimes carried out during the war.<\/p>\n