Yesterday, President Trump vetoed a bill Congress passed to end US military assistance to the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen.
MADRE condemns this veto, which allows US complicity in this devastating humanitarian crisis to continue as business as usual. The US has aided Saudi Arabia in its bombing campaign on Yemen, including through arms sales, logistical support, and intelligence sharing.
US support for the Saudi coalition has unleashed one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Saudi-led airstrikes on weddings, funerals, and in marketplaces have killed civilians using US-supplied bombs. They have destroyed roads and hospitals, preventing sick, injured, and malnourished people from accessing the most basic care. Now, more than 14 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine. The Saudi blockade on vital supplies, supported by the US, has made it more difficult to get basic food and medicine to starving Yemeni families
And women and girls have been particularly hard hit as they struggle to provide food and clean water to their families with famine and deadly cholera outbreaks looming as a direct result of the war. About 76% of Yemen’s 3 million internally displaced people are women and the children in their care.
Join us as we continue to push for peace and justice for the Yemeni people. As aid agencies are struggling to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in crisis, MADRE is supporting local Yemeni women’s organizations to deliver emergency food supplies and clean drinking water to besieged communities.
We are demanding space for women’s voices in the peace process. Every day, Yemeni women are brokering local peace agreements, preventing the recruitment of children by armed groups, and defending political detainees. They are speaking out in international forums about the role of women in peacebuilding. We know that Yemeni women must be at the table during peace negotiations to set the stage for a long-term, inclusive, and sustainable peace.
And we know that the destructive role of the US in this war must end now.
