Action Needed on Yemen: Join International Day of Action on January 25

Published on December, 25 2020

A girl suffers with cholera in the Yemeni city of Taiz (April 4, 2019). Photo credit: anasalhajj / Shutterstock.com.

By Odile Hugonot Haber
Co-chair, Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee 

December 2020

The war in Yemen has entered its sixth, devastating year. Over 100,000 people have died and millions are on the brink of famine. The United States government is complicit in this war; millions worth of arms have been sold to the Saudi coalition since the start of the war, US planes have helped refuel Saudi planes and directed the bombings.

WILPF US has been speaking up about the humanitarian crisis this war has caused from the beginning, and passed a statement in 2016 calling “for an immediate end to US involvement in and support for this unconscionable war” and urging the US “to employ diplomacy.” That was more than four years ago, and the situation has only gotten more catastrophic for all the people of Yemen, including children, who are regularly dying from violence, malnutrition, and disease.

An international protest, “World Says No to War on Yemen,” is planned for January 25, 2021. The declaration calling for this International Day of Action on Yemen states:

“Since 2015, the Saudi-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the country. The U.N. calls this the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth. Half the country’s people are on the brink of famine, the country has the world’s worst cholera outbreak in modern history, and now Yemen has one of the very worst COVID death rates in the world: It kills 1 in 4 people who test positive. The pandemic, along with the withdrawal of aid, is pushing more people into acute hunger.

And yet Saudi Arabia is escalating its war and tightening its blockade.

The war is only possible because Western countries – and the United States and Britain in particular – continue to arm Saudi Arabia and provide military, political, and logistical support for the war. The Western powers are active participants and have the power to stop the world’s most acute human crisis.

The disaster in Yemen is man-made. It is caused by the war and blockade. It can be ended.

People and organizations from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Spain, and across the world, are coming together to call for an end to the war in Yemen and solidarity with the people of Yemen.

We demand that right now our governments:

  • Stop foreign aggression on Yemen.
  • Stop weapons and war support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
  • Lift the blockade on Yemen and open all land and seaports.
  • Restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen.

We call on people around the world to protest the war on January 25, 2021, just days after the U.S. presidential inauguration and the day before Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ Future Investment Initiative.”

This action is endorsed by WILPF-US, and we encourage members and branches to create or join local protests – with masks and other safety precautions, of course.

If you plan an in-person protest, please register the details here. If you cannot organize an in-person action, please consider supporting others who can. You can also organize virtual events, media, and other events leading up to January 25.

Previous WILPF US work on Yemen:

Peace and Freedom Magazine:

Past eNews articles:

 

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