As the war in Yemen enters its fifth year, the warring parties have made important, albeit gradual, progress towards implementing the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement, which includes demilitarising the city of Hodeida and allowing for a safe humanitarian corridor. Yet violence rages on elsewhere in areas not covered by the agreement, deepening what the United Nations calls the ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’. The rising toll of civilian deaths and risk of famine have also heightened public scrutiny of UK and US military support to the Saudi-led coalition.

This panel will assess the prospects for peace, legal challenges surrounding the provision of humanitarian aid, the role of international actors, and the ethics of arms sales that perpetuate the conflict.

Speakers:

Rafat Al-Akhali – Fellow of Practice in Strategic Projects at the Blavatnik School of Government; former Yemeni Minister of Youth and Sports.

Emanuela-Chiara Gillard – Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict; former Chief of the Protection of Civilians Section in the Policy Development and Studies Branch of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Brianna Rosen – DPhil candidate at the Blavatnik School of Government; previously supported the US National Security Council on Middle East policy issues.

Dr James Christensen – lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Essex, teaching courses on ethics and public policy, human rights, and global justice.

The event will be co-hosted by the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict and moderated by Nima Gerami, a Visiting Scholar at the Blavatnik School of Government.