Thread by @bellingcat

Bellingcat has teamed up with Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi ), @ECCHRBerlin and @mnemonicorg , alongside the Global Legal Action Network (@GLAN_LAW ), to create an interactive map examining airstrikes in Yemen. bellingcat.com/news/mena/2021…

This is an inaugural project by Investigative Commons, the new Berlin-based hub bringing together open source, legal and investigative experts to examine human rights issues. theguardian.com/law/2021/jun/2…

The new map can be seen below. It will be a useful resource for researchers and journalists covering Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, which has dragged on for over six years. yemen.forensic-architecture.org

The Saudi Led Coalition (SLC) air campaign in Yemen has only been possible due to the ongoing role which European arms companies and governments have played in supporting and supplying the Saudi Led Coalition.

These partnerships have continued, despite strong and growing evidence of a clear pattern of breaches of international humanitarian law by the SLC, as evidenced by ECCHR’s submission to the International Criminal Court. ecchr.eu/en/case/made-i…

For example, in the seven months after the UK resumed issuing arms licences to Saudi Arabia in July 2020, they authorised £1.39bn worth of arms exports. theguardian.com/world/2021/feb…

The map charts airstrikes over space and time, since the start of the SLC’s air campaign. Each incident includes a date, location summary and links to the open sources used to assess it.

The map focuses on four categories: airstrikes on hospitals, airstrikes on schools, airstrikes on civilians and civilian objects, and airstrikes on places of cultural significance.

It is also possible to filter by whether remnants of munitions were found, whether there were civilian casualties, and whether there were consecutive strikes on the same target, a data point which helps to indicate intent.

Along the timeline below the map we have included not only the strikes themselves, but also the actions and decisions of European governments and arms companies which relate to the war in Yemen.

In doing so, the map’s creators hope to show that these decisions were not made in a vacuum, but rather in the midst of a bombing campaign which has demonstrated a clear pattern of targeting hospitals, civilians, and cultural heritage.

Back in March of this year we ran a mock hearing with @Swansea_Law and @GLAN_LAW where we examined the admissibility of open source evidence in UK courts, using an example from a Bellingcat investigation into a Saudi airstrike in Yemen

The result of that mock hearing will be used to develop Bellingcat's own methodologies and develop the understanding of the use of open source evidence in other courts and legal proceedings.