June, 08 2017, 03:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Phone,+1 617 482 1211 (Toll-free 1-800-77-OXFAM),Email,info@oxfamamerica.org
Civil War--Fueled by US Bombs--Is Driving Yemen into Crisis.
WASHINGTON
The Yemeni people are on the brink of famine after two years of conflict. In this time, millions of people have been displaced from their homes. And without adequate access to medical supplies or facilities, every ten minutes a child dies in Yemen due to preventable disease.
Yet at a time when the Yemeni people desperately need an end to violence, President Trump is proposing to sell nearly $510 million worth of weapons, including precision-guided munitions, to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's use of these munitions in Yemen has fueled the conflict in Yemen, creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Tomorrow, Congress will vote on this arms deal that would be used to fuel the war in Yemen. The Yemeni people need peace - not more bombs.
"Congress should signal its concern for human rights, international humanitarian law and survival of the Yemeni people by blocking this arms sale," said Scott Paul, Oxfam Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor. "Yemen is already on the brink of famine with 7 million people facing severe hunger and 18.8 million in need of aid; the sale of precision-guided munitions will only further exacerbate the growing humanitarian crisis. The administration may not directly drop bombs in Yemen, but by providing Saudi Arabia with additional arms, the U.S. government will fuel and legitimize a conflict that, for the sake of the millions in need, must urgently be resolved."
As long as American bombs are involved in the conflict, more lives will be lost. And we will be complicit.
Oxfam International is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. We are working across regions in about 70 countries, with thousands of partners, and allies, supporting communities to build better lives for themselves, grow resilience and protect lives and livelihoods also in times of crisis.
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Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
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