Stop Death in Yemen: Ask Your Legislators to Act!
Supporters of Promise the Children would like to think that our country values all families and children, no matter what country they call home.
During the holiday season, an image that is often in our minds is that of the birth of Jesus. It is during this time of year that The Three Kings are said to have followed the star of Bethlehem to visit The Holy Family. Perhaps the Magi came from nearby areas now known as Iraq, Iran or Saudi Arabia. They may have even come from Yemen.
This is the time of year we honor families.
Today Yemen has been turned into a modern battlefield with very limited access to food and medicine for innocent Yemeni families and children. We have all seen images of some of the 85,000 children who are dying of starvation and know that there are thousands more suffering and dying every day. “Currently Yemen is suffering from what is being called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the last 100 years, with many people not having the essentials that they need to survive, like food, water and shelter.” — BBC Report | December 2018
What’s happening in Yemen and how did we get here?
Despite joining together as a country in 1990, the north and south of Yemen disagree on how the country should be run, and fighting has almost always existed between the government and anti-government fighters (called the Houthi and also known as the rebels). The situation reached a peak at the end of 2014 when the country descended into civil war, when the rebels—backed by Iran—took over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The former President of Yemen fled to Saudi Arabia, which today leads a coalition of 10 countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Sudan) in support of the Yemeni government. The United States has pressed Saudi Arabia and its allies to end the war against the Houthi, but our government continues to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia meant for its pro-government forces—which enables the fighting to continue.
The U.S. also supports the coalition with refueling and intelligence.
“We are horrified that 85,000 children in Yemen may have died because of extreme hunger since the war began. For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it’s entirely preventable.” — Save the Children | November 2018 Report
The United States continues to play a role in this humanitarian crisis.
There are additional reports that the Saudis killed 40 Yemeni children in a school bus with a bomb supplied by the United States. This is senseless cruelty, yet our government continues to support this terrible, pointless war. After increased pressure, our legislators have started to respond. In late fall, a majority of our U.S. Senators voted to end the U.S. support of the war in Yemen, but the House refused to join them.
But now we have new members in our House of Representatives. With your phone calls, perhaps our Representatives would now vote to end our participation in the Yemeni war. Please call your legislators today—as we have seen, our voices can make a difference! Thank your Senators for their vote to end the war in Yemen, and ask your Representatives to support a bill to end our participation in the Yemen tragedy.
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