The United Nations on Monday bowed to a demand by Saudi Arabia that its coalition fighting in Yemen be removed from a blacklist of nations and armed groups responsible for killing children.

Although a spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said the decision was temporary, pending a review of the evidence, human rights campaigners expressed outrage that the global body had succumbed to pressure.

Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch, said the decision was "deeply disturbing".