End the U.S.-Saudi War on Yemen

The war on Yemen has been one of the worst crises on Earth for years. It is a Saudi-U.S. collaboration for which both U.S. military involvement and U.S. weapons sales are necessary. The UK, Canada, and other nations are providing weapons. Other Gulf Kingdoms, including the UAE, are participating.

Despite the current pause in bombings in Yemen since April 2022, there is no structure in place to prevent Saudi Arabia from resuming airstrikes, nor to permanently end the Saudi-led blockade of the country. The possibility of a Chinese-facilitated peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran is encouraging, but does not make peace in Yemen or feed anyone in Yemen. Providing Saudi Arabia with nuclear technology, which it clearly wants in order to be closer to possessing nuclear weapons, must not be part of any deal.

Children are starving to death every day in Yemen, with millions malnourished and two-thirds of the country in need of humanitarian aid. Almost no containerized goods have been able to enter Yemen’s principal port of Hodeida since 2017, leaving people in desperate need of food and medical supplies. Yemen needs some $4 billion in aid, but saving Yemeni lives is not the same priority for Western governments as fueling the war in Ukraine or bailing out banks.

We need a greater global demand for an end to warmaking, including:
  • the sanctioning and indicting of the Saudi, U.S., and UAE governments;
  • the use of the War Powers Resolution by the U.S. Congress to forbid U.S. participation;
  • a global end to weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE;
  • a lifting of the Saudi blockade, and the complete opening of all airports and seaports in Yemen;
  • a peace agreement;
  • the prosecution of all guilty parties by the International Criminal Court;
  • a truth and reconciliation process; and
  • the removal from the region of U.S. troops and weaponry.

The U.S. Congress passed war powers resolutions to end U.S. participation when the Congress could count on a veto from then-President Donald Trump. In 2020, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party were elected to the White House and majorities in Congress promising both to end U.S. participation in the war (and therefore the war) and to treat Saudi Arabia like the pariah state that it (and a few others, including the United States) should be. These promises were broken. And, although a single member of either house of Congress could force a debate and a vote, not one single member has done so.

Sign the Petition:

I support the sanctioning and indicting of the Saudi, U.S., and UAE governments; the use of the War Powers Resolution by the U.S. Congress to forbid U.S. participation; a global end to weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE; a lifting of the Saudi blockade, and the complete opening of all airports and seaports in Yemen; a peace agreement; the prosecution of all guilty parties by the International Criminal Court; a truth and reconciliation process; and the removal from the region of U.S. troops and weaponry.

Learn and Do More:

March 25th marks the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing of Yemen. We cannot let there be a ninth! Please join a coalition of U.S. and international groups including Peace Action, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, Action Corps, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Stop the War UK, World BEYOND War, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Roots Action, United for Peace & Justice, Code Pink, International Peace Bureau, MADRE, Michigan Peace Council, and more for an online rally to inspire and enhance education and activism to end the war in Yemen. Confirmed speakers include Senator Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ro Khanna, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. REGISTER HERE.

Take action in Canada HERE.

We, the following organizations, call on people across the United States to protest the U.S. supported, Saudi-led war on Yemen. We call on our members of Congress to take concrete steps, listed below, to bring the harmful U.S. role in the war to a rapid and final end.

Since March 2015, the Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates (UAE)-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed hundreds of thousands of people and wreaked havoc on the country, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. The U.S. has been not only a supporter of, but a party to, this war since its inception, providing not only weapons and materiel for the Saudi/UAE war effort, but intelligence support, targeting assistance, refueling, and military defense. While the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations have promised to end the U.S. role in the war and reduced targeting, intelligence and refueling assistance and limited certain arms transfers, the Biden administration has resumed defense assistance relying on US troops deployed in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and expanded sales of “defensive” military equipment.

Efforts to Stop the War: President Biden, during his campaign, promised to end U.S. weapons sales and military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. On January 25, 2021, his first Monday in office, 400 organizations from 30 countries demanded an end to Western backing of the war on Yemen, creating the largest anti-war coordination since the Iraq War in 2003. Just a few days later, on February 4, 2021, President Biden announced an end to U.S. participation in offensive operations in Yemen. Despite President Biden’s commitments, the U.S. continues to enable the blockade – an offensive operation on Yemen – by servicing Saudi fighter jets, assisting Saudi and UAE with military defense operations, and providing military and diplomatic support to the Saudi/UAE-led coalition. The humanitarian crisis has only worsened since Biden took office.

The U.S. Role in Enabling the War: We have the power to help stop one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. The war on Yemen is enabled by continued US support as the United States provides military, political, and logistical support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

People and organizations from across the U.S. are coming together to call for an end to U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen and solidarity with the people of Yemen. We demand that our members of Congress immediately:

→ Pass a War Powers Resolution. Introduce or co-sponsor a Yemen War Powers Resolution before International Women’s Day on March 8th, to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. The war has exacerbated gender inequality in Yemen. Congress should reassert its constitutional authority to declare war and end executive branch overreach in embroiling our country in disastrous military campaigns. 

→ Stop Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Oppose further arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in compliance with U.S. laws, including Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, prohibiting arms transfers to governments responsible for gross violations of human rights.

→ Call on Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Lift the Blockade and Fully Open Airports and Seaports. Call on President Biden to insist he use his leverage with Saudi Arabia to press for the unconditional and immediate lifting of the devastating blockade.

→ Support the People of Yemen. Call for the expansion of humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen. 

→ Assemble a Congressional Hearing to Examine the U.S. Role in the War in Yemen. Despite nearly eight years of active participation of the U.S. in this war, the U.S. Congress has never held a hearing to examine exactly what the U.S. role has been,  accountability for U.S. military and civilian officials for their role in violations of the laws of war, and U.S.  responsibility to contribute to reparations and reconstruction for the war in Yemen. 

→ Call for the Removal of Brett McGurk from his position. McGurk is the National Security Council’s Middle East & North Africa coordinator. McGurk has been a driving force for failed United States’ military interventions in the Middle East over the last four administrations, resulting in major catastrophes. He has championed support for the Saudi/UAE war in Yemen and expanded arms sales to their governments, despite the opposition of many other senior officials in the National Security Council and State Department, and President Biden’s commitment to end it. He has also supported the extension of dangerous new U.S. security guarantees to these authoritarian governments.

We ask individuals and organizations across the states to protest at the district offices of their members of Congress on Wednesday, March 1st with the above demands.

 
SIGNATORIES:
1. Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation
2. Yemeni Alliance Commitee
3. CODEPINK: Women for Peace
4. Antiwar.com
5. World Can’t Wait
6. The Libertarian Institute
7. World BEYOND War
8. Twin Cities Nonviolent
9. Ban Killer Drones
10. RootsAction.org
11. Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW
12. Health Advocacy International
13. Mass Peace Action
14. Rising Together
15. Peace Action New York
16. LEPOCO Peace Center (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern)
17. Commission 4 of the ILPS
18. South Country Peace Group, Inc.
19. Peace Action WI
20. Pax Christi New York State
21. Kings Bay Plowshares 7
22. Union of Arab Women
23. Maryland Peace Action
24. Historians for Peace and Democracy
25. Peace & Social Justice Com., Fifteenth St. Meeting (Quakers)
26. Taxes for Peace New England
27. STAND
28. About Face: Veterans Against War
29. Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
30. Veterans for Peace
31. The New York Catholic Worker
32. American Muslim Bar Association
33. Catalyst Project
34. Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
35. Baltimore Nonviolence Center
36. North Country Peace Group
37. Veterans for Peace Boulder, Colorado
38. Democratic Socialists of America International Committee
39. Brooklyn for Peace
40. Peace Action Network of Lancaster, PA
41. Veterans For Peace – NYC Chapter 34
42. Syracuse Peace Council
43. Nebraskans for Peace Palestinian Rights Task Force
44. Peace Action Bay Ridge
45. Community Asylum Seekers Project
46. Broome Tioga Green Party
47. Women Against War
48. Democratic Socialists of America – Philadelphia Chapter
49. Demilitarize Western Mass
50. Betsch Farm
51. Vermont Workers’ Center
52. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section
53. Burlington, VT branch Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
54. Cleveland Peace Action

See information on the war at every75seconds.org

We need governments and international bodies to see people demanding an end to this war all over the world.

Work with your local World BEYOND War chapter or form one.

Contact World BEYOND War for assistance planning events.

 

Make use of these speakers, and these signup sheets, and this gear.

List events anywhere in the world at worldbeyondwar.org/events by emailing events@worldbeyondwar.org

Background Articles and Videos:

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#Yemen #YemenCantWait #WorldBEYONDWar #NoWar #PeaceInYemen
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