Over 350 high-profile figures, including Nobel peace prize laureates, former generals, politicians and celebrities, have called on the leaders of the United States, Britain and France to use their power in order to "prevent further catastrophe" in Yemen.
"December 2017 marks 1000 days 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," the statement read.
The statement criticized the international community for failing to act in order "to end this man-made catastrophe."
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"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 destabilizing the entire region, they could be the brokers of peace," the statement read.
Since the onset of the conflict, the coalition has imposed a blockade of Yemen, saying the move was needed to prevent the Houthis from receiving arms supplies from abroad. The blockade resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the country, where, according to the UN, about 8.4 million people are "a step away from famine."
