Labour Friends of Yemen Reception

Labour Friends of Yemen hosted a meeting on Wednesday 17 November. 

Other colleagues spoke at the event, and I spoke about the backbench Yemen debate on the 3 November.

The three of us also discussed hosting a conference on this issue. 

The conflict in Yemen has been ongoing for 8 years. The United Nations Development Programme estimates that more than 370,000 people have died as a result of this war, with indirect causes, such as lack of food, water and health services, causing almost 60% of those deaths. Yemen is now in the midsts of a humanitarian crisis.

The warring sides reached in truce in April 2022, unfortunately they were unable to agree an extension and it ended in October 2022. 

During my speech in the debate, I put forward a number of questions to the Minister:

Will he pursue every effort for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen, as well as for the implementation of the Stockholm agreement? Will he look at establishing a new international accountability mechanism for Yemen? Will the Minister, as the UK penholder, consider drafting an appropriate resolution immediately that moves the country on to a peace process?

I wrote an op-ed on the conflict for Parliament Politics Magazine:

https://parliamentnews.co.uk/let-us-not-forget-yemen-rt-hon-valerie-vaz-mp