International community must act on Yemen

While Britain focuses on Brexit, the people of Yemen suffer atrocities that put our current challenges to shame (Voices from Yemen: ‘We have watched our neighbours break’, 12 December). As we head towards a no-deal of our own making, the international community stands by as families, women and children have their lives destroyed by civil unrest.

Although the UN-led peace talks in Sweden seem to be making some progress, the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate. It is time for the international community to come together and finally address our important international obligations – especially to civil rights.

It isn’t just Yemen in the region where human rights are an issue. Recent improvements in human rights in Saudi Arabia are welcome but other situations in the region are impacting the rights of individuals elsewhere. For example, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is reporting on the violations caused by the blockade of Qatar. If we’re not careful, such situations will escalate and cause additional conflict – something that the world cannot afford to happen.

We must not let Brexit distract us from continuing to play our important role in these worrying situations and using our influence to ensure that everyone’s right to live free is never taken away.
Sandip Verma
Former parliamentary under-secretary of state, DfID

• It is time news outlets, including the Guardian, stopped using the grossly underestimated “official” figure of 10,000 fatalities in Yemen since the beginning of the war. Latest research by reputable organisations such as the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) has shown that the actual number of civilian fatalities in Yemen as a result of direct targeting has been six times higher. And even this figure does not take into account the total number of Yemenis that have died because of the indirect effects of the drawn-out conflict. Sticking to this figure after four years of active warfare and the blockade of Yemen is an affront to the suffering Yemenis and to common sense.
Thanos Petouris
Doctoral student, Soas, University of London

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