Ottawa—20 August 2018
The Nobel Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative call for an immediate ceasefire to stop armed hostilities in Yemen, and for the creation of an international investigative committee into the August 9 Saudi and Emirates-led coalition air attacks on Yemeni civilians. We are deeply dismayed by the air-strike, which hit a bus full of little children, killing 51 people, including 40 children, and injuring 79, including 56 children.
This level of violence and disregard of international humanitarian law in Yemen can no longer be tolerated. The air strike marks a tragic new low in the long list of war crimes committed against innocent civilians—including innocent children— in Yemen.
We call on all Saudi-UAE coalition allies—including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Canada—to stop the provision and sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which, as reported by Amnesty International, is directly responsible for the destruction of civilian lives. Such attacks continue to render access to humanitarian assistance nearly impossible for the people of Yemen.
We strongly condemn all human rights violations and crimes perpetrated towards civilians in Yemen and call on all parties—including Iran and the Saudi and Emirates-led coalition— to abide by international humanitarian law and immediately cease armed attacks on innocent civilians.
We call upon the United Nations Security Council to take urgent action to protect civilians, and bring all perpetrators to international justice.
We express our full solidarity with the Yemeni people, and call for the urgent negotiation of a nonviolent solution to the current political crisis, which is the only path to true and sustainable peace in Yemen.
Signed by:
Mairead Maguire
Nobel Peace Prize, 1976
Jody Williams
Nobel Peace Prize, 1997
Dr. Shirin Ebadi
Nobel Peace Prize, 2003
Tawakkol Karman,
Nobel Peace Prize, 2011
Leymah Gbowee,
Nobel Peace Prize, 2011
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