On 26 March 2015, the armed conflict in Yemen escalated when a Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE)-led military coalition started a bombing campaign in support of the internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The bombing continues to this day.
Parties to the conflict on all sides are responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Scores of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks carried out by the Saudi/UAE-led military coalition have killed and wounded thousands of civilians, destroyed critical infrastructure and contributed to Yemen’s ever worsening humanitarian crisis since 2015. Time and again, the coalition has targeted civilian areas and facilities, including homes, schools and hospitals, with devastating impact on the healthcare system. Europe plays a part in this – some countries and corporations even profit from the war by manufacturing or supplying weapons to countries conducting attacks in Yemen.
On 8 October 2016, an airstrike in Deir Al-Hajari in northwest Yemen killed a family of six, including four children. A suspension lug manufactured by RWM Italia S.p.A., an Italian subsidiary of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG, was found in the rubble. European supplies were used to carry out this airstrike on civilians. Even in the face of many reports of the military coalition’s airstrikes violating international humanitarian and human rights law, RWM Italia exported large numbers of MK80 series bombs to Saudi Arabia and the UAE between 2015 and 2018. Remnants of these types of bombs have been found at several airstrike sites in Yemen.
The Yemeni organization Mwatana for Human Rights, Rete Disarmo from Italy and ECCHR in Germany call upon the Italian judiciary to fully investigate RWM Italia and Italy’s national arms export authority UAMA’s (Unita’ per le autorizzazioni dei materiali d’armamento) potential responsibility for the unlawful coalition attacks in Yemen, which may amount to war crimes. In April 2018, the organizations filed a criminal complaint against RWM Italia and UAMA with the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome. A year and a half later, the prosecutor requested the case be dismissed, instead of conducting a complete assessment of the facts. But the people in Yemen deserve a proper examination of Italy’s role in the airstrikes. Mwatana, Rete and ECCHR appealed the prosecutor’s decision and in February 2020, a judge was appointed to hear the case. Now the Judge’s Office for Preliminary Investigations in Rome will decide whether investigations can continue.
Italian law 185/1990 prohibits arms exports to parties of armed conflict, as do the EU Common Position on arms export control and the International Arms Trade Treaty. International criminal law is also relevant in assessing the legality of arms exports in conflicts like Yemen. And it is not just Italian weapons used in Yemen: companies from Germany, France, Spain and the UK have supplied the Saudi/UAE-led coalition with arms, ammunition or logistical support. European companies are thus benefitting from the sorrow of millions.
Beyond profiting from the war, these companies fuel it, leading to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of civilians starving, getting sick and dying. Companies and authorities’ potential complicity in these crimes must be thoroughly investigated. This is why Mwatana, Rete and ECCHR do not only seek an investigation in Italy, but also filed a communication to the International Criminal Court with other partners in December 2019. The organizations ask the ICC to investigate the responsibility of Italian authorities and RWM, as well as arms companies like Rheinmetall AG (Germany), Airbus Defence and Space GmbH (Germany), BAE Systems Plc. (UK) and Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy).
