Red Cross concerned about abandoned bodies in Yemen
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed deep concern over the growing number of unattended dead bodies in Yemen, amid ongoing Saudi airstrikes on the impoverished Arab country.
The Swiss-based organization said “international humanitarian law” requires the dead bodies that are being abandoned in the war zones be “treated properly and with respect.”
"With the escalation of the fighting, more casualties are being left behind owing to the increased danger associated with retrieving the wounded and the dead," said Nourane Houas, head of the ICRC Protection Department in Yemen on Tuesday.
Houas urged all sides in the conflict “to respect the dignity of the dead” and “allow their proper identification and their handover to the families.”
"Failure to identify the dead puts them in the ranks of the missing, and prevents the families from mourning," Houas said.
The ICRC said it has helped retrieve more than 400 dead bodies since March. The World Health Organization, however, says the death toll from the conflict from March to August 5 stands at a figure of over is 4,340 people.
Local sources say the the fatality figure from the Saudi airstrikes is much higher.
According to the United Nations figures, half of those killed are civilians.
The UN says 80 percent of Yemen's 21 million population are in need of humanitarian aid.
Saudi Arabia began its devastating military aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor on March 26 - without a UN mandate.
The airstrikes have been meant to undermine Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch Saudi ally. As well as the foreign aggression, the Ansarullah fighters and allied forces are also battling a domestic militancy.
Storm aftermath exposes chaos in Dubai after UAE hit by record rains
Oman flash floods kill nearly 20, including children
EU, US pledge $355 million to Westernize Armenia amid Russia tensions
Iran plans to increase defense exports by 50%: Official
‘Israel on losing end in Gaza war’: Ex-Mossad deputy chief
New Caledonia unrest: Death toll rises to six as France deploys more troops
Fighting rages in Rafah amid intensified Israeli bombardments
VIDEO | Clashes in Paris as firefighters unions protest working conditions
US lawmakers pass bill to overturn halt to arms transfer to Israel
More than half of US states join campus movement
Over 600 mosques destroyed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
