The UN reversed on Monday its decision to include the Saudi-led coalition in its annual list of blacklisted organisations due to the killing and maiming of children in the ongoing military campaign in Yemen.

The decision to remove the coalition came four days following the release of a UN report indicating the coalition is responsible for 60 per cent of child deaths and injuries in the country, killing 510 and wounding 667, in 2015.

A coalition spokesperson rejected the report on Monday, saying it relied on information taken from parties affiliated with Houthi rebel militias and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. It was alleged the report did not show the figures provided by the legitimate Yemeni government “that highlights the employment of children by Houthi militias in fighting fields and… the number of children killed due to their use in combat, planting mines and transferring ammunition and explosives”.

Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said they had not been consulted by the UN prior to the publication of the report. He added that the removal of the coalition from the blacklist was “irreversible and unconditional”.

The decision to remove the coalition from the list “pending a review of evidence” did not go unnoticed by human rights campaigners and is now widely perceived as an act of succumbing to diplomatic pressures.

Philippe Bolopion, deputy director-general for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch, described it as shocking and naked politicisation.