On Friday, March 10, Stephen O’Brien, the United Nations’ under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, addressed the United Nations Security Council about what must happen to avert the threat of famine in Yemen. He said: “only a combined response with the private sector can stem a famine: commercial imports must be allowed to resume through all entry points in Yemen, including and especially Hudaydah port, which must be kept open and expanded.” Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s Ambassador to the UN said: “Restrictions have to be lifted at the port of Hodeidah to allow access to humanitarian aid.”
On Thursday, March 9, 53 House Democrats wrote to Secretary of State Tillerson, urging him to “use all U.S. diplomatic tools to help open the Yemeni port of Hodeida to international aid humanitarian aid organizations to allow them to import food, fuel, and medicine into northern Yemen and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children who face starvation.”
The signers were: Ted Lieu (CA-33); John Conyers (MI-13); Gwen Moore (WI-4); Debbie Dingell (MI-12); Bobby Rush (IL-1); Barbara Lee (CA-13); Mark Pocan (WI-2); David Cicilline (RI-1); James McGovern (MA-2); Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5); Ruben Gallego (AZ-7); Keith Ellison (MN-5); Jamie Raskin (MD-8); Raúl Grijalva (AZ-3); Jan Schakowsky (IL-9); Steve Cohen (TN-9); Adam Smith (WA-9); Anthony Brown (MD-4); Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1); Peter DeFazio (OR-4); Donald Beyer (VA-8); Alcee Hastings (FL-20); Darren Soto (FL-9); William Keating (MA-9); Hank Johnson (GA-4); Alan Lowenthal (CA-47); Chellie Pingree (ME-1); Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11); Frank Pallone (NJ-6); Betty McCollum (MN-4); Nydia Velázquez (NY-7); Adam Schiff (CA-28); Jared Polis (CO-2); Joseph Crowley (NY-14); Dwight Evans (PA-2); Pramila Jayapal (WA-7); Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12); Frederica Wilson (FL-24); Adriano Espaillat (NY-13); Anna Eshoo (CA-18); Stephen Lynch (MA-8); Judy Chu (CA-27); Zoe Lofgren (CA-19); Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23); Bill Foster (IL-11); Jackie Speier (CA-14); Karen Bass (CA-37); Earl Blumenauer (OR-3); Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2); Mark Takano (CA-41); Salud Carbajal (CA-24); Louise Slaughter (NY-25); and Peter Welch (VT). [5]
Amplify these calls to avert famine in Yemen by signing and sharing our petition at MoveOn.