OXFAM has urged the UK Government to stop arming attacks on Yemen after it emerged Yemen’s medical and water systems suffer one air raid every 10 days.
The struggle for control over the impoverished country between government forces and Houthi militia has been exacerbated by the involvement of well-armed foreign powers including neighbouring Saudi Arabia – one of many overseas clients for the UK’s arms sector and the leader of a coalition trying to defeat the rebels.
This coalition, and Saudi Arabia in particular, has been accused of multiple breaches of international humanitarian law.
Evidence proves British-made arms have been used in the five-year-old conflict. In one incident, a fragment of a UK-supplied bomb was discovered at the site of the deadly attack on the Abs Hospital in 2016, where 19 civilians died.
Air strikes on clinics, schools, roads, warehouses, civilian housing and even weddings and funerals have contributed to nightmarish conditions for Yemenis, who have seen their economy collapse and infrastructure crippled. As many as 20.5 million people there need help to access clean water.
They experienced the world’s worst cholera outbreak as the illness took hold in October 2016. Now they’re battling the coronavirus.
And according to Oxfam analysis of information collected by the Yemen Data Project, Yemen’s medical and water infrastructure has been hit almost 200 times since 2015 which is the equivalent to one strike every 10 days.
The UK Government did suspend the sale of arms licences to Saudi Arabia last year after an appeal court ruling that British arms could be being used in Yemen in violations of international humanitarian laws.
Last month, Downing Street said it would resume these lucrative sales, with Liz Truss stating that she’d concluded Saudi Arabia “has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with international humanitarian law”.
Confirming that a “backlog” of licences would now be cleared, she stated: “I have assessed that there is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation.”
The UK Government has donated millions to Yemen relief efforts through the now defunct Department for International Development. But the sum is a fraction of what’s been made via the arms trade.
Ruth Tanner, Oxfam head of humanitarian campaigns, said: “Hospitals, clinics, water tanks and wells are vital to protect people from disease and should never be the targets of military action. And yet they’ve consistently been in the crosshairs throughout this conflict.
“The damage is not only done when the bombs fall but during the weeks, months and years it takes to rebuild hospitals and wells while people succumb to injuries and disease.
“The UK Government needs to show it can be a global leader by ending the licensing of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other coalition members, which are fuelling this conflict.”
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