MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the humanitarian and political situation in Yemen

B9‑0119/2021

European Parliament resolution on the humanitarian and political situation in Yemen

(2021/2539(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the UN Security Council resolutions on Yemen,

– having regard to the UN Secretary-General’s statements on Yemen, including his statement of 20 November 2020,

– having regard to the reports, recommendations and statements of the UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen,

– having regard to the Council conclusions of 25 June 2018 and of 18 February 2019 on Yemen,

– having regard to Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP of 8 December 2008 defining common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equipment[1] and to the Arms Trade Treaty of 24 December 2014,

– having regard to the statements by the World Food Programme’s Executive Director David Beasley, including his most recent statement of 14 January 2021 addressing the UN Security Council,

– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations and to the principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Yemen,

– having regard to its resolution of 27 February 2014 on the use of armed drones[2],

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs considers the humanitarian situation in Yemen to be the worst in the world; whereas of an estimated 28.8 million Yemenis, 24 million are in need of humanitarian protection or assistance, including 12.3 million children; whereas these numbers have continued to grow every year since the beginning of the war;

B. whereas according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report from 2019, between March 2015 and December 2019 more than 233 000 people died as a direct result of the conflict, and whereas 14 new frontlines have emerged since the beginning of 2020; whereas the Stockholm Agreement signed in December 2018 was intended to bring about a cessation of hostilities in the Red Sea area, including Taiz and Hodeidah, and safe corridors for the movement of people and supplies; whereas the parties to the conflict are regularly breaching the ceasefire agreement and are engaging in hostilities; whereas thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict since the signing of the agreement; whereas between October and December 2020, the number of child casualties more than doubled in Taiz Governorate, and their numbers also increased in Hodeidah compared with the rest of 2020;

C. whereas over 3.5 million people have been internally displaced, making the situation in Yemen the fourth largest displacement crisis in the world;

D. whereas the protests against neoliberal reforms in Yemen in 2010 and 2011 led to the ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 25 February 2012 and the imposition of an interim administration headed by Saleh’s Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi; whereas Hadi’s Government continued the highly unpopular implementation of structural adjustments, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reforms, privatisation, austerity and the financialisation of the Yemeni economy that had been initiated under Saleh and interrupted by the uprisings in 2010 and 2011; whereas during the interim period of 2012-2014, widespread unrest and destitution resulted from the implementation of World Bank and IMF austerity programmes; whereas the Hadi administration reneged on many leases for agriculture, oil and gas and fisheries assets in order to sign them over to US-allied Saudi Arabian and Qatari companies;

E. whereas the Hadi administration, with the international support of the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, gave free reign to armed groups linked to Muslim Brotherhood affiliates; whereas these affiliates, as well as members of the US-trained special units in the Yemeni army, foreign fighters and local loyalists pursued and murdered Yemeni leaders who continued to oppose the political and economic project being imposed on the country by Hadi; whereas these actions, coupled with the widespread perception that Hadi was servicing foreign interests, causing living standards to plummet and failing to satisfy any of the demands of the 2010-2011 movement led to the takeover of Sana’a and Hadi being placed under house arrest by Ansar Allah in late 2014;

F. whereas on 21 September 2014, with the assistance of the UN-appointed envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, interim president Hadi signed the Peace and National Partnership Agreement with Ansar Allah and the leaders of all the major political parties; whereas this agreement prioritised the holding of elections that had been promised by the Obama administration and the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2012; whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia opposed this move towards power sharing in Yemen and resolved to reverse these developments;

G. whereas the ongoing Saudi-led war against Yemen began in March 2015 under the name Operation Decisive Storm, was rebranded a month later as Operation Restoring Hope and has plunged the country into a deep humanitarian crisis;

H. whereas the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which also includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan, Senegal, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrein, and has included Qatar (2015-2017) and Morocco (2015-2019), is responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of civilians through airstrikes and forces on the ground, including mercenary forces; whereas the main aim of this intervention was to restore the unelected Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power at any cost; whereas this intervention is a direct violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations; whereas the coalition has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law that amount to war crimes, including strikes on residential areas, markets, hospitals, schools, farms, food production facilities and water infrastructure;

I. whereas the coalition has imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports and severe airspace restrictions, and has carried out repeated attacks on infrastructure indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, which have resulted in a widespread famine; whereas the Sana’a International Airport has been closed to commercial flights for more than four years, meaning that Yemenis living across the northern parts of the country have not been able to fly out, including seriously ill civilians who have not been able to seek lifesaving treatment since the closure; whereas the repeated closures of the airport to humanitarian flights have hindered the movement into and within Yemen of humanitarian personnel, equipment, provisions and essential supplies; whereas economic warfare has resulted in cyclical and dramatic shortages of fuel since February 2019; whereas fuel ships are being blocked from docking and unloading at Al-Hodeidah port as a result of the dispute over the collection of customs duties and tax, and the use of revenues from the fuel; whereas fuel and gas shortages have disrupted electricity, water, sanitation and health services, and have increased the cost of basic goods; whereas as a result of the fuel shortages, displaced and vulnerable people are struggling to get to distribution points and to access services;

J. whereas the food security crisis created by the conflict, and exacerbated by the blockade and the coalition attacks, is the world’s largest and according to estimates is killing over a hundred children daily; whereas 13.5 million people are living in acute food insecurity and are at risk of starvation; whereas the designation of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation by the US Government can worsen this situation;

K. whereas healthcare facilities are not functioning and there are increasing problems in accessing water and sanitation; whereas there has been an outbreak of cholera which is the largest in recent history, affecting over half a million people;

L. whereas the Governments of Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia have made their airspace and territorial waters available to the coalition; whereas the United States and the United Kingdom have given logistical support to the coalition in the form of aerial targeting assistance, intelligence sharing, assisting the enforcement of the blockade, the training of forces, the refuelling and maintenance of vehicles and aircraft, and, as stated in a letter from the White House to Congress in June 2018, the presence of US army troops on the ground;

M. whereas the presence on the ground of mercenaries from the American private company Academi (formerly known as Blackwater) has been documented; whereas these mercenaries, mostly from Latin America and the Horn of Africa, were allegedly brought into the conflict by the UAE; whereas Blackwater employees have previously been convicted for murder after the company’s activities in Iraq;

N. whereas US President Biden’s announced decision with regard to US military aid to Saudi Arabia in the Saudi-led war in Yemen is a clear recognition of the long military intervention and of the crimes committed by the US in Yemen;

O. whereas the European Union Member States are among the main providers of military materiel for this war, including arms, equipment, ammunition, training, maintenance and other services; whereas the different types of aircraft used for the airstrikes such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and Tornado, used by Saudi Arabia, are manufactured by a consortium of various British and EU companies; whereas the Mirage 2000-9, used by the UAE, is built in France; whereas the 1330 MRTT, used by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is produced in Spain and France; whereas the Saudi vessels used to implement the blockade are mostly made in the EU; whereas the troops on the ground also use materiel originating from the EU such as French Leclerc tanks or Finnish Patria AMV 8x8 armoured personnel carriers;

P. whereas the Italian Government has announced that it will revoke licenses for the sale of bombs and missiles to the warring parties in Yemen; whereas this decision is yet to be implemented;

Q. whereas the UN and the EU have imposed an arms embargo on certain groups operating in Yemen; whereas no such embargo has been imposed on Saudi Arabia despite the European Parliament’s calls to do so; whereas EU Member States such as France and Spain continue to be among the main arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia and the UAE;

R. whereas Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP and the Arms Trade Treaty establish that exporting Member States must deny an export licence for military technology or equipment that may be used in the commission of serious violations of international law;

S. whereas Ansar Allah fighters have been involved in grave violations, including the use of landmines and the shelling of civilian facilities;

T. whereas there have been worrying reports that the Iranian Government has supported Ansar Allah militarily and financially;

U. whereas significant amounts of the arms sold into the conflict by the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Belgium have been confiscated from or sold on by UAE and Saudi troops and mercenaries to other forces engaged in the conflict, including Ansar Allah;

V. whereas there have been reports of extrajudicial executions by all parties to the conflict, as well as the denial of humanitarian access, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearance, torture, including sexual violence, and other forms of ill-treatment;

W. whereas the conflict and the security vacuum have caused the expansion and consolidation of the presence of terrorist groups in the country, including Ansar al-Sharia, also known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the so-called Yemen Province of Daesh, which continue to control small parts of the territory;

X. whereas in the past year, the war has continued to escalate and violence has been on the increase, including coalition airstrikes in the capital Sana’a and the province of Al-Jawf; whereas Ansar Allah has continued to expand its control to the north and the east; whereas the intensified fighting in Al-Hudaydah Governorate since November 2020 has led to over 1 500 deaths, the destruction of hundreds of houses and farms, and the displacement of over 700 people;

Y. whereas UN Security Council Resolution 2140 of 2014 imposes targeted sanctions on individuals or entities designated by the Committee of the Security Council on a case-by-case basis; whereas the Council has stepped up these sanctions and targeted individuals and entities not designated by the Committee; whereas the US has also expanded these sanctions, most recently in December 2020, to include five more leaders of Ansar Allah, a move which was applauded by the Saudi-supported Hadi Government;

Z. whereas the US Government adopted the designation of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation on 19 January 2021; whereas the impact of the designation on the commercial and banking sectors, and on the ability to import food, fuel and medicines into the country are extremely concerning; whereas the designation threatens to hamper and slow down aid delivery and create further legal and compliance challenges for aid agencies; whereas US President Biden has announced that this designation will be reversed;

AA. whereas the geopolitical implications of the war are among the main elements fuelling it as Saudi Arabia and the UAE seek to expand their regional influence; whereas the geographical location of Yemen at the strait of Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, has strategic importance owing to the important maritime routes that use it and to the energy resources found there;

AB. whereas the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen has received substantive information indicating that the Hadi-led Government, the coalition-backed forces and the Ansar Allah forces have all conscripted or enlisted children into armed forces or groups and have used them to participate actively in hostilities; whereas over 3 150 children have been killed since the beginning of the war; whereas 380 schools have been bombed, destroyed or occupied by armed groups since 2015;

AC. whereas long-term mental and physical rehabilitation support is not available in Yemen, meaning that survivors must cope with these impacts for years to come; whereas an estimated 160 000 Yemeni teachers and school-based staff have not received regular salary payments since 2016; whereas the futures of entire generations of Yemeni children are being compromised;

AD. whereas women in Yemen have traditionally been highly vulnerable to abuses such as child marriage and violence, as there is no legal minimum age of consent in the country; whereas women have less access than men to medical care, property ownership, and to education and training; whereas their situation has been worsened by the conflict and the recent COVID-19 pandemic which has put more women at risk of gender-based violence and more girls at risk of child marriage; whereas around 30 % of displaced households are headed by women; whereas medicines for many chronic diseases are no longer available, and whereas Yemen has one of the highest maternal death rates; whereas malnourished, pregnant and lactating women are more likely to contract cholera and are at higher risk of bleeding, adding considerably to the risk of complications and death during childbirth;

AE. whereas the ongoing conflict has further escalated attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and activists in Yemen, who continue to be targeted and subjected to enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and other forms of harassment and attacks by the parties to the conflict; whereas women human rights defenders in Yemen face compounded forms of repression;

AF. whereas the lack of funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is threatening the continuity of programmes dedicated to gender-based violence, and 350 000 women are at risk of losing specialised protection services as a consequence;

AG. whereas since the start of the conflict women have been entirely absent from the negotiation processes, but nevertheless remain central to finding a long-lasting solution to the conflict; whereas the unelected and Saudi-based and funded government formed in December 2020 does not include any women among its members, and whereas this is the first time in over 20 years that no women have been included;

AH. whereas there are an estimated 283 00 refugees in Yemen, 90 % of whom are from Somalia; whereas this population has been disproportionately affected by the war and the resulting humanitarian crisis, and has repeatedly been subjected to arbitrary detention and denied access to any form of social services;

AI. whereas in 2020, funding for the Humanitarian Response Plan declined sharply, as only 50.1 % of the USD 3.38 billion needed for the humanitarian response in Yemen had been received; whereas the gap in funding has resulted in a reduction of aid, with dramatic consequences for vulnerable populations, as the food and health crises have exacerbated the impact of the conflict and some key programmes have been stopped or reduced; whereas the 2021 Yemen Pledging Conference is approaching at a critical moment for stepping up international financial support to the people affected by the crisis;

AJ. whereas the Yemeni economy has shrunk by over 45 % since 2015; whereas major shocks to the economy have occurred as a result of the blocking of ports by Saudi Arabia and other intentional measures taken by the parties to the conflict, further worsened by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic; whereas the depreciation of the Yemeni rial has resulted in a reduced import capacity with severe consequences, as Yemen imports 90 % of its food along with most of its medicines and fuel necessities; whereas since August 2016, most of Yemen’s 1.25 million public sector employees – and around 7 million of their dependents – have been left without a regular income;

AK. whereas there have been no credible efforts towards ensuring accountability for war crimes or reparations for victims by any warring party, and whereas the situation of impunity continues to fuel further abuses against the people of Yemen;

1. Strongly condemns the ongoing violence in Yemen and all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and water systems, which have plunged the country into its current humanitarian crisis; recalls that these attacks are a grave violation of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes, requiring that the perpetrators be held accountable and reparations provided to victims; expresses its solidarity with the victims’ families and next of kin, and with all the people of Yemen;

2. Condemns foreign interference in Yemen in the form of military attacks, indiscriminate airstrikes, and the presence of foreign troops and mercenaries on the ground; calls for an immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces in order to facilitate political dialogue among Yemenis;

3. Condemns in the strongest terms the weaponisation of the Yemeni economy by the Saudi-led coalition; recognises that the current economic downturn is one of the main drivers of humanitarian needs in Yemen; reiterates that the parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and refrain from using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare;

4. Deplores the attempts of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to expand their influence in the region regardless of the cost in human lives; recalls that the attacks by Saudi Arabia and the UAE have caused immense suffering among the Yemeni people and are the main factor behind the country’s humanitarian crisis; condemns their attempts to further divide the Arab peoples and to impose reactionary forms of government;

5. Urges the Member States to comply with Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP and put an immediate end to the export of weapons and military materiel to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, guaranteeing that this does not result in the loss of jobs in the European Union, as well as ending all other forms of military cooperation; reiterates its call on the Council to impose an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and the UAE;

6. Condemns the role of the US in the conflict, which has promoted and actively participated in violent acts; calls on the Member States to immediately cease any form of technical support or cooperation with the parties to the conflict; demands that the US and its allies, including EU Member States, put a stop to all support for the war against Yemen, including arms sales into the conflict, intelligence sharing, any part in enforcing the blockade, aerial targeting assistance, the training of forces, maintenance, and the refuelling and repair of vehicles and aircraft;

7. Expresses concern about the presence of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Daesh in the country, as well as the civilian harm resulting from US drone strikes and ground raids purportedly targeting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; recalls that these organisations have been able to make territorial gains because of the situation created by the war; condemns all acts by these terrorist organisations;

8. Condemns the blockade on Yemeni ports and the restrictions on the country’s airspace, and calls for Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners to immediately lift them; calls on Saudi Arabia to guarantee that all ports, including key ports of Aden and Al-Hodeidah, Sana’a Airport and land routes into the country are kept open in order to allow the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid; calls on Ansar Allah to stop any attacks on humanitarian workers and to lift restrictions and impediments to the flow of humanitarian aid in the areas under its control;

9. Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) to support the initiatives of the UN Special Envoy to engage the different parties in order to put in place a long-term solution for fuel and other commercial imports, and to ensure that the revenues from ports are used to pay the salaries of teachers, health workers and other public sector workers;

10. Deplores the difficulties humanitarian actors are facing in the country, and reminds all parties, particularly Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, of the obligation to comply with international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, to refrain from targeting civilian infrastructure, and to guarantee humanitarian organisations safe and unimpeded access to the country, irrespective of the progress made in political talks;

11. Deplores the failure of all efforts to promote a national dialogue; supports the efforts of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, to advance the political process and achieve an immediate nationwide ceasefire; calls for the Special Envoy to be given full and unhindered access to all parts of the territory of Yemen; calls on the VP/HR and all EU Member States to provide Mr Griffiths with political backing with a view to reaching a settlement through inclusive political negotiations; calls, to this end, on the Foreign Affairs Council to review and update its most recent conclusions on Yemen of 18 February 2019 to reflect the current situation in the country;

12. Recalls that a ceasefire cannot be used as a pretext to impose foreign control over parts of Yemen or maintain a foreign military presence in the country;

13. Supports all confidence building measures with parties to the conflict, with particular attention to those with the capacity to immediately mitigate humanitarian needs, such as the reopening of Sana’a Airport, the resumption of salary payments, the implementation of mechanisms enabling sustained sea port operation with a view to facilitating fuel and food imports, and efforts to provide resources to and support the Central Bank; calls, to this end, for the European Union and all Member States to constructively engage with the parties to the conflict towards achieving this aim;

14. Expresses its grave concern about the humanitarian consequences of the designation of Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) by the United States Government, which came into effect on 19 January 2021; calls on the United States Government to immediately implement the announced revocation of this designation as the only effective way to protect Yemeni civilians from the potentially catastrophic humanitarian impact the designation will cause, as highlighted by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs on 14 January 2021;

15. Is convinced that any long-term solution should address the underlying causes of poverty and instability in the country and fulfil the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Yemeni people; reaffirms its support for all peaceful political efforts to protect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen;

16. Denounces the lack of attention paid by the international community to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen; deeply regrets the lack of media attention to the various war crimes being committed in Yemen, which means that the tragic consequences of a war backed by the US and EU Member States are largely unknown to the general public;

17. Condemns the EU’s connivance and complicity with reactionary regimes in the region; is highly critical of the role played by the various Western interventions of recent years in exacerbating conflicts in the area; states that there can be no military solution to the conflicts in the region; rejects the use of the notion of the ‘responsibility to protect’, also used as a pretext by different parties to the conflict in Yemen, as it violates international law and does not offer an adequate legal basis for justifying the unilateral use of force;

18. Calls on the parties to the conflict to take all necessary steps to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against the civilian population, including sexual and gender-based violence; strongly condemns the violations of children’s rights; expresses grave concern at reports of the use of child soldiers in the conflict, and at children’s limited access to basic healthcare and education; calls for the immediate release of all those under arbitrary detention;

19. Calls on the United States to include Saudi Arabia and the UAE on their annual Child Soldiers Prevention Act list; condemns the removal in June 2020 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres of the Saudi Arabian and UAE-led military coalition from the annual UN child-killer blacklist; calls for the inclusion of the United States and the United Kingdom on the UN child-killer blacklist for their role in the bombing campaign against Yemen;

20. Calls for those responsible for violations and abuses of human rights law, or violations of international humanitarian law, to be held accountable for their actions, and for reparations to be provided to civilian victims; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to take effective measures to support the establishment of an investigation body focusing on the crimes committed, to refer the situation in Yemen to the International Criminal Court, and to support efforts towards providing credible reparations for international law violations in Yemen, including from states that have participated in, aided or assisted unlawful acts, including through the supply of weapons and military support;

21. Stresses that UN Security Council Resolution 2201 of 2015 has little or no correlation with the current situation on the ground in Yemen; notes in particular that Ansar Allah is no longer a rebel group in the north that has no territory, but currently relies on public support and controls the areas where 70 % of the population lives; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to engage with other UN member states to establish and support a new resolution in the UN Security Council, which reflects the current reality of the war in Yemen and highlights the importance of accountability, including criminal justice and reparations, in realising a sustainable political solution;

22. Calls on all UN member states to respect the sovereignty of Yemen, to refrain from interference in the affairs of the Yemeni people, to allow the people of Yemen to decide their own future free from the influence of the Saudi Arabian and UAE-led coalition, and to recognise that no lasting peace can be established in Yemen while foreign interference persists;

23. Condemns the increased role of Israel in the conflict in Yemen, in particular the illegal establishment of a UAE and Israeli intelligence base on the occupied Yemeni island of Socotra; urges the UN to investigate claims by Yemeni officials that the Israeli administration, in collaboration with the UAE, is exploiting the natural resources of Socotra island; calls on the UN, in the light of these infractions, to ensure safeguards are put in place to protect the remote Arabian Sea archipelago which is a candidate for UNESCO recognition as a world natural heritage site for its biodiversity and natural beauty;

24. Calls on all parties to the conflict to end the recruitment or use of children as soldiers and to put a stop to other grave violations committed against them in violation of applicable international law and standards; calls on all parties to release the children who have already been recruited, and to cooperate with the UN in order for them to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities;

25. Urges the European Union and all Member States to commit to adequate and flexible multiannual funding for the humanitarian response in Yemen; deplores the fact that the funding gap for Yemen grew to 50 % in the previous year; recalls that discussions on the issue of funding for the humanitarian response should take as their starting point the scale and severity of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, particularly the worsening food security situation; calls for the EU and all Member States also to ensure adequate funding for UN agencies and organisations providing vital services in Yemen, including programmes aimed at helping internally displaced people, children in situations of vulnerability and women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence; calls for the EU and all Member States to continue supporting the mandate of the UN’s Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, including by providing sufficient resources for it to continue its work in documenting and reporting violations of international law in Yemen to the UN Human Rights Council;

26. Condemns the increased use of drones for extraterritorial operations by the US under the Obama administration and the dramatic increase thereof under the Trump administration; firmly opposes the use of drones in extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings; demands a ban on the use of drones for this purpose pursuant to its resolution of 27 February 2014 on the use of armed drones, paragraphs 2(a) and (b) of which call on the VP/HR, the Member States and the Council to ‘oppose and ban the practice of extrajudicial targeted killings’ and ‘ensure that the Member States, in conformity with their legal obligations, do not perpetrate unlawful targeted killings or facilitate such killings by other states’ respectively;

27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the European External Action Service, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Government of Yemen, the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen.