Global human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on the United Nations General Assembly to suspend the membership rights of Saudi Arabia from the U.N. Human Rights Council, which it has been a part of since 2013.
HRW and Amnesty issued a joint statement explaining the reason behind the call.
"Saudi Arabia leads the military coalition fighting in Yemen, with Riyadh hosting its command control structure. Since 26 March 2015, the coalition has carried out numerous attacks that have violated international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate and disproportionate airstrikes that have killed and injured many civilians," the joint statement said .
The two organizations want the UN to take action and suspend the kingdom until civilians in Yemen are left alone by the Saudi-led military coalition.
The statement also said that Saudi Arabia has committed "gross and systematic violations of human rights during its time as a Council member," supporting the claims with numbers.
The human rights groups have documented "69 unlawful airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, some of which may amount to war crimes, which have killed at least 913 civilians and have hit residences, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses, and mosques," as well as "19 attacks involving internationally banned cluster munitions."
Saudi Arabia first ran for election to the Human Rights Council in 2013 where it pledged to "support the human rights bodies and mechanisms of the United Nations and cooperate constructively with them."
The suspension of any country from an elected body of the UN is unlikely to happen. For the suspension to take place, it would need a two-thirds majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly.
“UN member countries should stand with Yemeni civilians and suspend Saudi Arabia immediately,” said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at HRW.
Earlier this month, Riyadh was accused of pressuring UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to remove the coalition from a blacklist of child rights violators. Saudi Arabia denied using any pressure tactics, explaining the coalition in Yemen is not deliberately targeting civilians.