Assessing Civilian Casualties Linked to U.S.-Made Weapons in Yemen

Alexandra Stark wrote for Just Security assessing civilian casualties linked to US-made weapons in Yemen.

The United States failed to properly assess civilian casualties linked to American-made weapons used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds, as President Joe Biden is set to visit the Middle East and meet with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The visit is reportedly part of a broader reorientation in the U.S.-Saudi relationship: a senior U.S. official said that “both sides have decided that for the sake of achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, we need to move past” U.S. concerns about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But the United States cannot move past the civilian casualties inflicted by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which continues to receive U.S. military assistance, without a thorough investigation and accountability. Nor can U.S. officials continue to claim that human rights are a consideration in weapons sales if civilian casualties linked to American-made weapons are not investigated and considered as part of future sale decisions.

Earlier in June, the New York Times reported that the GAO had completed, but not publicly released, its report on civilian casualties from American-made weapons in Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Released internally at the end of April, some officials “worried that the State Department could hide important findings from the public” through the clearance process. Now public, the report offers additional insight into the U.S. military’s support for the coalition in Yemen. The United States’ role in the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, outlined in this report, threatens to undermine the Biden administration’s stated commitment to human rights.

At the core of the report lies the revelation that the Department of Defense (DoD) and State Department have not adequately assessed whether U.S. military support has been linked to civilian casualties in Yemen, a fact that should be deeply troubling. The Arms Export Control Act requires the State Department to report promptly to Congress when it receives information of U.S.-provided arms or services used for unauthorized purposes. During the GAO investigation, State Department officials stated that “they consider civilian harm” and how weapons are used when making decisions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Yet the report shows that both DoD and the State Department lack internal procedures to investigate how U.S. weapons are used, and whether they are implicated in human rights violations. Defense Department officials told the GAO that “there is no mechanism to track how foreign partners use defense articles” and services sold to foreign partners by the U.S. government. Without these procedures in place, it is unclear how human rights considerations are included in decisions to sell U.S. weapons.