These mercenaries possess nationalities of member states of the International Criminal Court.
The governments of Australia, El Salvador, Colombia, Chile and Panama should launch an extensive investigation into the army recruitment of their nationals by the UAE.
The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries should work to dismantle the mercenary army formed by the UAE as it poses a threat to international peace and security.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) has sent letters to the governments of Australia, Chile, El Salvador, Colombia and Panama calling for an extensive investigation into the UAE’s recruitment of nationals to serve in an army of mercenaries.
AOHR UK also called on the said countries to withdraw their citizens from these dangerous formations and take measures against the UAE in accordance with the International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries of 1989. It calls on the countries to impose sanctions on all accomplices in the recruitment of citizens for no other purpose but to take lives in exchange for money.
AOHR UK said in its letters, according to evidence it gathered, that it was at the beginning of 2010 when the process of forming an army of mercenaries began with the assistance of a former Australian officer and the American founder of Blackwater. The recruited army of foreigners began work outside the borders of the UAE with the launch of the military operations against Yemen in March 2015.
“AOHR UK clarified that this army is conducting military operations and supervising secret prisons in which Yemeni citizens have been subjected to brutal torture. Moreover, the military attacks has caused thousands of Yemeni civilians to be killed and displaced. These attacks have been described in independent human rights reports as amounting to war crimes.
AOHR UK stressed that the one of the dangers of this army formed by the UAE is that it strengthens the will of UAE rulers to move forward with projects to quash any aspirations of its people to self-determination, as well as ignite wars that threaten international peace and security.
The International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, adopted in 1989, considered that anyone who initiates recruitment, takes part in recruiting, or accepts foreign conscription to serve in areas of conflict, is committing a crime([1]).
AOHR UK calls upon the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries to dismantle the army of mercenaries formed by the UAE, and to impose sanctions on all those who played an active role in the recruitment process. Indeed, this army poses a serious threat to stability in the region.
AOHR UK stressed that all citizens who have been recruited belong to countries that are members of the International Criminal Court (Australia, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama and Chile). The crimes committed in Yemen under Emirati leadership are therefore under the jurisdiction of the court. This is in accordance to personal jurisdiction which depends on the nationality of the specific perpetrator as stated in the Rome Convention.
[1] http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r034.htm
