While watching the new SecState @SecBlinken say this, I was clapping & thinking how advocacy & campaigning eventually pay off! #yemen

SecState @SecBlinken’s comments about the need to review pending arms deals with the UAE & Saudi Arabia are long overdue, but hopefully one step in the right direction. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/536172-biden-administration-pauses-uae-saudi-arms-sales-amid-review

. @HRW’s call last month to halt proposed weapons sales to the UAE raised serious concerns on the UAE’s bleak human rights record in Yemen & Libya & how the US risks complicity in committing war crimes there https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/01/united-states-embargo-arms-united-arab-emirates

“Pausing” arms transfers for review is a good start for other crucial steps the US needs to take, among so many:

-Suspend all weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia/the UAE until they curtail unlawful airstrikes in Yemen 

-Credibly investigate past alleged violations by US-made weapons

-Investigate US officials for potential complicity in war crimes in Yemen

Ending the humanitarian crisis in Yemen requires much serious accountability measures to end the obstruction of aid by the Houthis, the Yemeni govt & the Saudi-led co’, while fully ensuring the protection for civilians https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/09/14/deadly-consequences/obstruction-aid-yemen-during-covid-19 #yemen