> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.merip.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Open Letter from Scholars of Yemen - URL: https://www.merip.org/2016/03/open-letter-from-scholars-of-yemen/ - Published: 2016-03-31T22:33:50.000Z - Updated: 2025-10-22T01:59:13.000Z - Description: Scholars write for the third time to condemn the actions of the US-Saudi-French alliance violating international humanitarian law in the southern Arabian Peninsula. - Author: (Author not identified) - Tags: Current Analysis, Saudi Arabia, United Nations, Yemen, #wp, #wp-post US Secretary of State John Kerry British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayraut On the occasion of a year of the bombardment and blockade of Yemen, we write for a third time as scholars of Yemen to deplore the actions of the governments you represent, which have served cumulatively to erase fundamental principles of international and international humanitarian law: a) drafting the one-sided UN Security Council Resolution 2216 used to legitimize war; b) attempting to protect Saudi Arabia and the other Coalition countries against condemnation by the UN Human Rights Council, leaving the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights alone to issue a condemnation of war crimes; c) continuing massive arms sales in the face of documented war crimes by the Coalition; and d) participating in refueling warplanes, identifying targets, and facilitating the blockade of vital imports of food and fuel to Yemen. We are aligned with no party in the internal political divisions of Yemen and deplore human rights violations by all the warring parties. However, we note that the major targets of the Yemen war, the Houthis and the bulk of the former Yemeni army, have over the past years fought Islamic State and al-Qaeda, which your governments view as terrorist groups and which have targeted Arab as well as European cities—most recently Brussels. Against this background, we renew our call to you to do everything to obtain an immediate and complete ceasefire and the launch of unconditional Yemeni-Yemeni negotiations for the formation of a transition government. And we ask that you offer no cover to the attempts of the Coalition states to extract commercial gains from their war and to avoid, in the name of plans for Gulf Cooperation Council “reconstruction” of Yemen, legal responsibility for war reparations. Najwa Adra, Independent scholar Geneviève Bédoucha, CNRS, Paris Isa Blumi, Stockholm University Laurent Bonnefoy, Sciences Politiques, Paris François Burgat, IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence Robert Burrowes, University of Washington Sheila Carapico, University of Richmond Steven Caton, Harvard University Don Conway-Long, Webster University Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University Blandine Destremau, CNRS, EHESS, Paris Paul Dresch, University of Oxford Ulrike Freitag, Free University of Berlin & Centre for Modern Oriental Studies McGuire Gibson, University of Chicago Michael Gilsenan, New York University Andre Gingrich, Austrian Academy of Sciences Najam Haider, Barnard College, Columbia University Mouna Hashem, Independent scholar Juliette Honvault, IREMAM, Aix-Marseille Université Eirik Hovden, Institute for Social Anthropology, Vienna Lamya Khalidi, CEPAM, CNRS, France Laurie King, Georgetown University Thomas Kühn, Simon Fraser University Jean Lambert, CERMOM-INALCO, Paris Anne Meneley, Trent University, Canada Brinkley Messick, Columbia University W. Flagg Miller, University of California-Davis Martha Mundy, London School of Economics and Political Science Michael Perez, University of Washington Christa Salamandra, Lehman College, CUNY Jillian Schwedler, Hunter College, CUNY Gregory Starrett, University of North Carolina Lucine Taminian, Independent scholar, Amman Daniel Varisco, American Institute for Yemeni Studies Gabriele vom Bruck, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Lisa Wedeen, University of Chicago Shelagh Weir, Independent scholar John Willis, University of Colorado Jessica Winegar, Northwestern University Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Sami Zubaida, Birkbeck College, University of London