UK Politicians to Urge PM to Oppose Riyadh's UN Human Rights Council Membership

© REUTERS / Peter NichollsBritain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, speaks outside number 10 Downing Street, in central London
Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, speaks outside number 10 Downing Street, in central London - Sputnik International
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UK politicians and nongovernmental organizations are expected to call on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to vote against Riyadh's membership in the UN Human Rights Council, local media reported Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Independent newspaper, a number of campaigners and politicians, including the ones from the Liberal Democrats party, are expected to call on new country's government to demonstrate its adherence to human rights and not to support Riyadh's candidacy to the council during the next vote.

A man searches for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 12, 2015 - Sputnik International
UK May Vote to Reelect Saudi ‘Child Killers’ to UN Human Rights Council
The newspaper added that the vote was expected to take place in October.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the Aden-based government with the Saudi-led coalition backing on one side and Houthi rebels allied with the General People’s Congress (GPC) and army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the other, for over a year. The coalition has been accused by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations of indiscriminately bombing civilians and killing hundreds of children.

The UK government has repeatedly been blamed by humanitarian organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Amnesty International, for fueling the Yemeni conflict by supplying Saudi Arabia with arms. The United Kingdom was also accused of supplying Saudi Arabia with cluster bombs, which are explosive weapons containing large numbers of smaller sub-munitions and prohibited by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The UN General Assembly elected Saudi Arabia to the Human Rights Council on November 12, 2013. Its tenure is expected to end on December 31 2016.

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