Time for Canada to stand with Yemeni civilians, not Saudi war criminals

Updated with explosive developments from Quebec media.

In this interview on CTV’s Power Play with Don Martin, RI President Peggy Mason discusses some of the many reasons why it is long past time for Canada to do the right thing and end our arms exports to Saudi Arabia:

Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands have all ended their military exports to Saudi Arabia. Only a Trump veto will stop the US Congress from doing the same. At this rate, Canada is going to be one of the last war crimes enablers standing.

Click below for the full interview. The link is provided courtesy of CTV’s Power Play with Don Martin.

Latest Developments in Yemen

Action by Canada would put immense pressure on the few other holdouts, including the UK and France, at just the right time to help UN negotiators pushing to widen humanitarian access on the ground to desperate Yemeni civilians.

On January 16th the UN passed a new UN Security Council resolution establishing the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA), the ceasefire agreement reached in Stockholm in December 2018.  For more details, see: Yemen: Council to authorise UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (What’s in Blue: Insights on the work of the UN Security Council, 15 January 2019).

For an analysis of the fragile agreement and the further actions needed to shore up the new monitoring mission, see: Five Steps to Save Yemen’s Stockholm Agreement (Peter Salisbury, crisisgroup.org, 15 January 2019).

And for the latest assessment of the ongoing disastrous rule of  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, see: Four years into Salman’s reign, Saudi Arabia more unpredictable than ever (Bruce Reidel, Al-Monitor, 16 January 2019).

Blockbuster reporting in Quebec media

And for those who read French, see below links to two explosive exposées on yet more Canadian military exports to Saudi Arabia and another coalition partner accused of war crimes in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates (UAE):

Des armes fabriquées au Québec pour la guerre au Yémen ( Hugo Joncas, Journal de Montreal, 12 Janvier 2019)

Lametti vantait des avions destines aux forces émiraties (Hugo Joncas, Journal de Montreal, 18 Janvier 2019)

Photo credit: screen shot from CTV’s Power Play with Don Martin

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