Your Letter Could Save Lives in Yemen

Ibtissam, a 15-year-old orphan girl, lives in a ragged tent with her 7 siblings in an IDP settlement in Khamir, about 100 km north of Yemen’s capital. They are among the estimated 3.9 million people who have fled their homes in search for safety and security since the escalation of the conflict in 2015. Photo: Giles Clarke/UN OCHA, 2017. Used by permission of the photographer.

By Barbara Taft
Co-Chair, Middle East Committee 

Our WILPF Middle East Committee has been working for some time to stop the war on the people of Yemen. To summarize, the United States has been supporting air strikes carried out by Saudi Arabia against Yemen, as well as a blockade against humanitarian relief. Non-combatants, primarily women and children, are suffering the consequences: malnutrition, starvation, and a surge in deaths from cholera and other preventable diseases, as well as death from bombardment.

A recent UN report says the death toll from the Saudi regime's war will pass 230,000 by the end of this year. Aid groups say 85,000 children have been starved to death so far by the Saudi regime’s war and blockade.

We were elated when both houses of Congress passed a resolution to stop US support of that horror, but then crushed when we heard that Trump had vetoed the bill.

The Yemen War Powers Resolution was co-authored by Senators Mike Lee, Republican of Utah; Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut; and Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. The measure passed the Senate in March by a vote of 54 to 46 and passed 247-to-176 in the House in early April. President Trump vetoed the bill on April 16.

We believe, along with several members of Congress, that it should be possible to override the veto. Your letters or calls to members of both houses of Congress asking them to override the veto for humanitarian reasons could make a difference. Please write or call today, keeping in mind the innocent lives that might be saved if we can turn the tide on this issue.

We’re not alone in calling for this veto override. Here is what Progressive Democrats of America wrote recently, asking their members to contact their congressional representatives and senators:

Earlier this month, Donald Trump vetoed a joint congressional resolution that would end U.S. support for Saudi war crimes against the Yemeni people. The resolution was authored by Senator Bernie Sanders in the Senate and Representative Ro Khanna in the House.

PDA supported this effort to reassert congressional constitutional authority over war and peace, and especially to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Please ... tell Congress to override Trump’s veto.

Our sisters in Code Pink are also urging members of their large mailing list to do the same.  

Here is some past WILPF US coverage on Yemen:

In Yemen, the Situation Is Dire by Ellen Rosser

Valentine M. Moghadam’s Peace and Freedom article “The History Behind Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis” in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue (beginning on p. 8).