A global coalition of leaders – from civil society through to business, the arts and faith communities, politics and Nobel laureates – have joined together in signing an open statement to call on President Trump, Prime Minister May and President Macron, to act urgently at the UN Security Council to prevent further catastrophe in Yemen. See the statement and the full list of signatories below.
After 1000 Days of War, Yemen Can’t Wait
A global call to President Trump, Prime Minister May, and President Macron
December 2017 marks 1000 days since the escalation of a war that has turned the Middle East’s poorest country into the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, leaving Yemen ravaged by preventable diseases and on the verge of a historic famine. Every ten minutes, a child dies from hunger or disease. Three-quarters of the population – 22 million people – need humanitarian assistance to survive.
All parties to the conflict have repeatedly carried out deplorable violations against civilians, with almost complete impunity. The recent blockade imposed by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has made an already catastrophic situation worse. It has barred delivery of life-saving food, medicines and fuel, leading to hospitals shutting down, and whole cities without clean water or working sanitation. The increased violence in Sana’a, and the killing of former President Saleh by the Houthis risks further increasing the threat to Yemen’s civilians.
Millions of Yemeni women, men and children feel abandoned by global leaders who seem to put profit and politics above human lives.
The international community has failed to take the action needed to end this man-made catastrophe. Millions of Yemeni women, men and children feel abandoned by global leaders who seem to put profit and politics above human lives. Throughout 1000 days since the conflict escalated, quiet diplomacy has failed to curb violation after violation by the warring parties.
The US, UK, and France, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and major weapons suppliers to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, bear a special responsibility to use the full extent of their leverage to press their partners in the region to end the crisis. Instead of stoking the flames of a war that is strangling an entire population and risks destabilising the entire region, they could be the brokers of peace.
To prevent further catastrophe and famine, Yemen needs an immediate ceasefire; an end to all blockages on access for food, fuel and medical supplies; and investment in a new, inclusive peace process in which women, youth and diverse civil society meaningfully participate.
We are at a tipping point. To prevent further catastrophe and famine, Yemen needs an immediate ceasefire; an end to all blockages on access for food, fuel and medical supplies; and investment in a new, inclusive peace process in which women, youth and diverse civil society meaningfully participate. We call upon President Trump, Prime Minister May, and President Macron, to take urgent action at the UN Security Council to make this happen.
Our message to them is simple: if you don’t want the burden of the lives of thousands more Yemeni children on your hands, then the time to act is now. Yemen can’t wait any longer.
435 signatories
Sport
Robert Pires, 1998-2000 World and European Football Champion, (France)
Academia
Abbas Milani, Hamid & Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies, Stanford University, (US)
Abdessalam Kleiche, Researcher, (France)
Amr Hamzawy, Egyptian Writer and Political Scientist, (Egypt)
Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, (US)
Anuradha Chenoy, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, (India)
Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor, New York University, (US)
Barbara Berardi, Researcher, EHESS Paris, (France)
Benoit Tadie, Professor, Rennes 2 University – Former head of cooperation, French Embassy in Yemen (1998-2002), (France)
Bertrand Badie, Professor, Sciences Po Paris, (France)
Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow and Director of the Brookings Intelligence Project & Senior Fellow, Brookings Center for Middle East Policy, (US)
Burkhard Vogt, Archaeologist, (Germany)
Catherine Clément, Philosopher, (France)
Chandler Davis, Professor, University of Toronto, (US)
Chris Doyle, Director, CAABU (Council for Arab-British Understanding), (UK)
Cristina Churruca Muguruza, Senior Researcher, Institute of Human Rights Universidad de Deusto, (Spain)
Daniel Schelstraete, Retired Engineer, the French National Geographical Institute, (France)
David Hollenberg, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Oregon , (US)
Didier Billion, Deputy Director, IRIS, (France)
Dr Anna Stavrianakis, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Sussex, (UK)
Dr Claire Beaugrand, Gulf Research Fellow, University of Exeter, (UK)
Dr David Wearing, Teaching Fellow in International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, (UK)
Dr Josef Forsling, Lecturer, Stockholm School of Theology, (Sweden)
Dr Mehari Taddele Maru, Chief Strategist at the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), (Ethiopia)
Dr. Christian Darles, Honorary professor, University of Toulouse-France, Member of the French archaeological mission in Yemen, (France)
Dr. Elham Manea, Yemeni/Swiss academic and writer, (Switzerland)
Dr. Jillian Schwedler, Professor of Political Science, City University of New York, (US)
Dr. Marina de Regt, Assistant Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, (Netherlands)
Dr Ross Porter, Research Fellow, University of Exeter, (UK)
Emmanuel Wallon, Professor of Political Sociology, Paris Nanterre University, (France)
Eric Vallet, Assistant Professor, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, (France)
Erica Deuber Ziegler, Art historian, University of Geneva, (Switzerland)
Ervand Abrahamian, Professor Emeritus, City University of New York, (US)
Fadi Al-Qadi, MENA Human Rights and Civil Society Expert, (Jordan)
Francesco Fedele, Professor of Anthropology, University of Naples, and member of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Yemen, (Italy)
François Burgat, Political scientist, Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim world (IREMAM), (France)
François Frison-Roche, Political scientist, researcher at CNRS, University Paris2, (France)
Gabriele Vom Bruc, Senior Lecturer, University of London, (UK)
Helen Lackner, Independent Rural Development Expert, author of ‘Yemen in Crisis, autocracy, neo-liberalism and the disintegration of a state’, (UK)
Holly G. Atkinson, MD, CUNY School of Medicine, (US)
Hugh Miall, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Kent, (UK)
Irene Rossi, Researcher, CNR Italy, (Italy)
Iwona Gajda, Researcher, CNRS, (France)
James W. Gould, Professor Emeritus International Relations, Scripps College, (US)
Jean Lambert, Professor and researcher, CERMOM-INALCO, (France)
Jean-François Breton, Head of Research, CNRS, (France)
Jeannie Sowers, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of New Hampshire, (US)
Jérémie Schiettecatte, Researcher, CNRS, (France)
Jérôme Gleizes, Economist, (France)
Jody Williams, Professor, Nobel Peace Laureate 1997, (US)
John Chalcraf, Professor of Middle East History and Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), (UK)
Klaus Krickeberg, Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Dr.h.c., Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and TWAS, Former professor, (Germany)
Lamya Khalidi, Researcher, CNRS – CEPAM, (France)
Laurent Bonnefoy, Researcher, CNRS, (France)
Leila Ali Aquil, Archaeologist, (Yemen)
Marie-Christine Heinze, President, CARPO, (Germany)
Marieke Brandt, Senior Researcher, Austrian Academy of Sciences, (Austria)
Marwa Daoudy, Assistant Professor in International Relations, Georgetown University, (US)
Mary Nolan, Professor of History, New York University and Brooklyn For Peace, (US)
Marylène Barret-Audouin, Near East and Yemen architectural heritage specialist, (France)
Miriam R. Lowi, Professor, The College of New Jersey, (US)
Mona Kareem, Poet and Academic, (US)
Nabil Ennasri, Writer, PhD student in Political Science, (France)
Norma Claire Moruzzi, Associate Professor, Director of International Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago, (US)
Pascal Menoret, Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, (US)
Paul A. Yule, Professor, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, (Germany)
Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture and Communication and the Gallatin School NYU, (US)
Peter Stein, Professor of Semitic Studies, University of Jena, (Germany)
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project, (US)
Professor Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, Professor of Public Policy, Trustee, Africa Humanitarian Action, (Ethiopia)
Professor Dr. H.A. Hellyer, Senior Non-resident Fellow, Atlantic Council & Royal United Services Institute, London/CASIS, (United Kingdom)
Professor Feargal Cochrane, Professor, University of Kent, (UK)
Professor Myles Wickstead CBE, Visiting Professor (International Relations), KCL, (UK)
Professor Stefan Enders, Professor, Department of Photography, University of Applied Sciences Mainz, (Germany)
Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University, (US)
Richard Caplan, Professor of International Relations, Oxford University, (UK)
Robert Melson, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University, (US)
Robert S. Lawrence, MD, MACP, Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, (US)
Ruth Bittinger Bennett, Retired, University of Colorado, (US)
Serge Michailof, Research fellow, IRIS, (France)
Sheila Carapico, Professor, Political Science and International Studies, University of Richmond, (US)
Sherrill Futrell, Historical Researcher at UC Davis, (US)
Signoles Aude , Lecturer, Science Po Aix-en-Provence, (France)
Thanos Petouris, Yemen Researcher, SOAS University, (UK)
Thomas Sagory, Archaeologist, public officer at the French Ministry of Culture, (France)
Yves Egels, Geographer, Engineer, (France)
Zaïneb Ben Lagha, Assistant Professor, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, (France)
Zaydoon Zaid, Director and Vice-president, the American Foundation For the Study of Man, (US)
Ziad Majed, Researcher, (Lebanon)
Multilateral Institutions
Commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso, Commissioner at African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (Ethiopia)
Dr Jamela Al-Raiby, Regional Advisor for child and adolescent health, World Health Organization, (Egypt)
Frej Fenniche, Former director of Asia, Pacific, Middle-East and North Africa Branch, UN Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights, (Switzerland)
Ger Duany, UNHCR Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the East and Horn of Africa, (South Sudan)
Jean Ziegler, Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, (Switzerland)
Olivier De Schutter, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2008-2014), (Belgium)
Media
AbdulRazzaq H. Al-Azazi, Indepdent Yemeni journalist, (Kuwait)
Afrah Nasser, Independent Yemeni journalist, (Yemen)
Ahmad al-Gohbary, Yemeni journalist, (Yemen)
Elizia Volkmann, Journalist, (London/Tunisia)
Guillaume Binet, Photojournalist, (France)
Hani Shukrallah, Chief Editor of Bel Ahmar, (Egypt)
Jameel Subay, Yemeni photojournalist, (France)
Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, Essayist and journalist, (France)
Khadija Al-Salami, Filmmaker, (Yemen)
Khaled Mansour, Writer, (Egypt)
Laura Silvia Battaglia, Journalist and field researcher, Watchlist.org, (Italy)
Marc-Olivier Fogiel, Radio and TV host, (France)
Maysaa Shuja al Deen, Yemeni writer, (Yemen)
Nicolas J S Davies, Journalist, Consortium News, USA, (US)
Olivier Da Lage , Journalist , (France)
Peter Oborne, Journalist, (UK)
Sulochana Peiris, Documentary Maker and Writer, (Sri Lanka)
Tawakkol Karman, Journalist, Nobel Peace Laureate 2011, (Yemen)
Thomas Legrand, Columnist, France Inter, (France)
Veengas, Journalist and Editor-in-Chief, The Rise News, (Pakistan)
William Lambers, Author, journalist and historian, (US)
Faith Leaders
Bishop Francis Loyo, The Bishop of the Diocese of Rokon, Province of the Episcopal Church (Anglican) of South Sudan (ECSS), (South Sudan)
Bishop Tony Robinson, Bishop of Wakefield, (UK)
Harun Rashid Khan, Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain, (UK)
Jill Baker, Vice President of the Methodist Conference 2017-18, (UK)
Maulana Yunus Dudhwala, Head of Chaplaincy and Bereavement Services to Barts Health NHS Trust, (UK)
Nozmul Hussain, CEO, East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre, (UK)
Pastor Evan Mawarire, Lead Citizen – #ThisFlag Citizen’s Movement Zimbabwe, (Zimbabwe)
Pastor Zerihun Degu, General Secretary at the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia, (Ethiopia)
Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition, (US)
Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church, (US)
Rt Rev. Nick Baines, The Lord Bishop of Leeds, (UK)
Sanjay Jagatia, Director Secretary General, Hindu Council UK, (UK)
The Most Rev. John D E Davies, Archbishop of Wales & Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, (UK)
The Most Rev. Moses Deng Bol, Archbishop of Northern Bhar El Ghaal Internal Province and Bishop of the Diocese of Wau Episcopal Church (Anglican) of South Sudan, (South Sudan)
The Rev. Loraine N Mellor, President of the Methodist Conference 2017-18, (UK)
Military
Major General Tim Cross (retired) CBE, Former British Army officer and military logistics expert, (UK)
Paul Rogers, Academic, (UK)