The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has affirmed its keenness to move forward towards the promotion and protection of human rights and achievement of the sustainable development in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Sharia and its rules in addition to its commitment to the regional and international human rights conventions. This came in a speech delivered by Dr. Bandar Al-Aiban, President of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Saudi Arabia's arm of protecting and safeguarding human rights at home, who led the Kingdom's delegation to the 31st Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session of Human Rights Council in Geneva. In line with the Human Rights Council resolution (5/1) on 2007, Dr. Al-Aiban disclosed that the third national report on the status of human rights in the Kingdom is based on the integration of roles among the relevant government agencies and the extensive national consultations with civil society institutions and individuals concerned in human rights. Al-Aiban pointed out to the Kingdom's keenness to give due consideration to the notes and recommendations of the treaty bodies and the UPR mechanism in light of the Kingdom's plans and policies aimed at achieving these objectives, including the Kingdom Vision 2030. He added that the Kingdom seeks to take the necessary legislative and institutional measures, increase the effectiveness of general implementation measures, promote the awareness of human rights, support civil society institutions' participation and enhance the regional and international cooperation in the field of human rights. Al-Aiban appreciated the great role played by the Human Rights Council through promoting and protecting the human rights in the world and overcoming the obstacles that may impede reaching this noble goal through its effective mechanisms and tools, primarily the UPR mechanism which contributed to improve the status of the human rights in many countries. He asserted that this mechanism is based on main pillars, including equality, inclusiveness, cooperation, dialogue and others, adding that the Kingdom has spared no efforts in collaboration with this mechanism through the 3rd review. Al-Aiban stressed the Kingdom's permanent stand in support of the Yemeni people and their legitimate government upon its request in the aftermath of the aggression of the Houthi militias against Yemen's legitimate government, the state's institutions and the Yemeni people. He stressed that this aggression undermined the comprehensive political peace process, ongoing at the time. He added that the Kingdom will defend its territories against indiscriminate bombing and missiles launched by Houthi militias resulting in the killing and wounding of hundreds of civilians, including children, elders and women. The head of the Kingdom's delegation stressed the Kingdom's strict adherence to the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the military operations led by the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen. He stressed that the Kingdom is taking great care to spare civilians, especially children, women, civilian objects and infrastructure to further evade the conflict's negative effects. He pointed out that the Kingdom is continuing to intensify coordination with the international organizations to provide and deliver humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people, highlighting Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations (YCHO) and its projects in Yemen. Al-Aiban said that the amount of humanitarian, relief and development aid provided by the Kingdom to Yemen since 2015 until now is USD 11.18 billion. --More 18:48 LOCAL TIME 15:48 GMT 0021 www.spa.gov.sa/1837928
