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Article

18 Apr 2018

Author:
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

Are arms manufacturer and Italian authorities complicit in deadly Saudi-coalition airstrike in Yemen?

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...On 8 October 2016 an airstrike allegedly by the Saudi-led military coalition struck the village of Deir Al-Hajari in Northwest Yemen.  The airstrike killed a family of six...At the site of the airstrike bomb remnants were found, and a suspension lug manufactured by RWM Italia S.p.A., a subsidiary of the German Arms Manufacturer Rheinmetall AG.  To uncover the contributing role of Italian actors in the airstrike through the Italian arms exports, on 17 April 2018 the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), together with its Yemen based partner organization Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, and Italian based Rete Disarmo, submitted a criminal complaint to the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome.  The legal intervention calls for an investigation into the criminal liability of Italian authority UAMA that authorizes Italy’s armament exports, and of Italian armament manufacturer RWM Italia S.p.A.’s directors for armament exports to members of the Saudi-led military coalition involved in the conflict in Yemen.  All parties to the Yemen conflict have repeatedly violated human rights and the civilian population is facing a widespread humanitarian crisis.  Numerous airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition have been found by the United Nations to be in violation of international humanitarian law.  “The on-going arms exports by European countries further the killing, while corporations like German Rheinmetall AG and its Italian subsidiary RWM Italia S.p.A. benefit from this business...

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