A big seller of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, Canada remains on the poor list of countries fueling the bloody war in Yemen, according to a recent report from the UN Human Rights Council.
Canada had already been singled out by the same panel of experts, but its involvement in the Yemeni conflict has remained very real. This can be read in this document published on Tuesday which lists the atrocities of this war for the period from July 2019 to June 2020.
The civil war in this country of the Arabian Peninsula has killed more than 100,000 people since 2015, argued last November the NGO Acled, which counted not only those killed in the fighting, but also the victims of the humanitarian crisis which as a result, especially famine.
Tensions in Yemen pit the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels against the Sunni power, to whom neighboring Saudi Arabia has come to lend a hand on the ground.
Recall that in 2014, Ottawa ratified a contract with the powerful oil monarchy for the sale of light armored vehicles, which are manufactured in southwestern Ontario and which very possibly serve the Saudi army in its battles against the Shiite rebels.
Amended Agreement
Last April, the Trudeau government amended this $ 14 billion deal, the terms of which had previously been kept secret.
The changes made to the contract make it more transparent, the federal government defended at the time. In particular, guidelines have been put in place to ensure that the sale of armored vehicles complies with the treaties signed by Canada in the area of human rights.
The Foreign Office also said Canada could now decide to stop shipping military equipment to Saudi Arabia without fear of financial retaliation.
Canada is not the only Western country to be accused of playing a secondary role in the war in Yemen because of the sale of military equipment. UN specialists also cited France, the United Kingdom and the United States in their report on Tuesday.