Paris, 7 November 2018 –  JOINT STATEMENT

As humanitarian, human rights and peacebuilding organizations working on Yemen, we welcome tomorrow’s unprecedented coming together of legislators from across nations and parties for the first International Parliamentary Conference for Peace in Yemen to demand their governments work together to end the crisis. With 14 million men, women and children on the brink of famine – half the country’s population – there has never been a more urgent time to act.

We call on governments to secure an immediate cessation of hostilities, suspend the supply of arms at risk of being used in Yemen, guarantee unimpeded access and movement for vital imports, condemn any attacks on civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law by any party and support international investigations into these violations, including the work of UN Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen.

Events in recent weeks have added to a long list of examples of disregard by Saudi Arabia for the international rules-based system and have brought renewed focus on the need for the international community, particularly the US, the UK and France, to reassess their partnerships with Riyadh. Any supporter of and arms supplier to the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition bears a special moral and legal responsibility to ensure that the coalition complies with international humanitarian law in Yemen. In light of the ongoing unlawful attacks against civilians by all parties in Yemen, widely documented by the UN Group of Eminent Experts, we add our voices to those of over one million of the global public and reiterate the call we have been making for years to all governments to suspend the supply of all arms at risk of being used in Yemen.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is manmade and a direct consequence of the warring parties’ severe restrictions on access to food, fuel, medical imports and humanitarian aid. The collapse of the Yemeni Rial and the non-payment of public sector workers is adding to the catastrophe. In addition, civilian deaths have increased dramatically in recent months – with 450 civilians killed in just 9 days in August – and violence against women and girls has risen significantly since the conflict escalated. We call on governments to redouble their efforts to guarantee unimpeded access to essential items, including fuel, in and throughout Yemen, including through the lifeline port of Hodeidah, where civilians have been caught in renewed fighting over the past few days. Any indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and other violations of international humanitarian law by any party should be publicly condemned by the international community.

Parliamentarians have a special responsibility to represent the voices of their constituents and hold their governments to account. On the eve of the inaugural Paris Peace Forum convened by President Macron to promote peace and improve global governance, we hope this conference will be a wake-up call. There is no military solution to the war in Yemen. Only an inclusive peace process can solve the humanitarian crisis.

After almost four years of conflict, Yemenis can’t wait any longer.

List of signatory organizations:

• ACAT
• Action Contre la Faim
• Asociacion pro Derechos Humanos de Espana
• Avaaz
• CARE International
• Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
• Committe on the Administration of Justice
• Control Arms
• Friends Committee on National Legislation
• FIDH (Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme)
• Finnish League for Human Rights
• Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
• Gulf Centre for Human Rights
• Handicap International
• Hellenic League for Human Rights
• International Rescue Committee Europe
• Latvian Human Rights Committee
• Ligue des Droits de l’Homme
• Ligue Belge (Francophone) des Droits de l’Homme
• Liga voor de Rechten van de Mens
• Médecins du Monde
• Mercy Corps
• Mwatana Organization for Human Rights (Yemen)
• Norwegian Refugee Council
• Observatoire des Armements
• Oxfam
• PAX (the Netherlands)
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
• Saferworld
• Salam for Yemen
• Save the Children
• SumOfUs
• War Child
• Yemen Peace Project

The announcement that Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a long overdue recognition of two heroic activists in the struggle against the rising tide of sexual violence across the world.

Rape has been used as a weapon of war for all of history but its normalization is a modern phenomenon. At the height of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a woman or girl was raped every 70 seconds. It was rightly described as the rape capital of the world. The Panzi Hospital that Dr Mukwege founded is a shining beacon of hope in that blighted country.

The horrors that ISIS inflicted on the Yazidi population in Iraq is well documented, in particular their routine use of sexual slavery and violence against women and girls. Nadia Murad was one such girl but since her escape she has refused to stay silent. Her activism is a testament to a woman of unusual bravery.

War Child has been working in active war zones supporting survivors of sexual and gender based violence for nearly 20 years. We are a registered law firm in both Afghanistan and Uganda, offering free legal counselling to women and girls whose attackers would otherwise go unpunished. In Iraq, we are helping survivors of ISIS rebuild their lives through training, education and psychosocial support. And in the Congo, we have a ground-breaking education program that allows girls to avoid the dangerous walk to school by learning through radio programming.

We hope that by highlighting the important work of Ms. Murad and Dr. Mukwege through this award, the Nobel committee will put pressure on the international community to step up and invest in meaningful prevention strategies to end sexual violence in conflict once and for all. War Child remains committed to breaking cycles of violence in communities and to end the exploitation of women and girls. We congratulate Ms. Murad and Dr. Mukwege on their incredible achievements.

UPDATE (Sept. 24, 2018): War Child is pleased to congratulate Brock Warner on this accomplishment! On September 21st, in front of a panel of judges, Brock pitched his idea of the 1-in-9 Fund: a publicly traded investment fund that directs a share of the fund’s management fees to support children and youth affected by conflict and crisis. A great idea, a great presentation, and now one of the three prize winners of the Resource Mobilization Challenge. Thank you Education Cannot Wait and The Global People’s Summit for helping us take the first steps toward making the 1-in-9 Fund a reality.

War Child was recently named a finalist for the Education Cannot Wait ‘Resource Mobilization Challenge’. This morning I presented our pitch in New York. Here is an abbreviated version. Many thanks to all at Education Cannot Wait for giving us this opportunity.

Being a fundraiser, I’ve got a problem. The problem is that despite individuals, corporations and family foundations being as philanthropic as at any point in our history – there are in increasing number of charities vying for every charitable dollar up for grabs.

A significant limiter here, is that a Foundation has a payout requirement of 5% of their assets. In Canada we call it a disbursement quota and it’s even lower – just 3.5%. I bring this up because traditionally, charities are only involved in conversations about how to spend this 5% slice of the pie.

We believe the 1-in-9 Fund unlocks a door for charities, and invites us to mobilize the other 95% of a donor’s assets.

So how would we do this?

Well, we have a big idea that we believe that Education Cannot Wait and War Child, with the right private sector partnerships just may be within reach.

Our idea is to develop an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), or, an index fund which directs a very small portion of the fund’s assets under management – as little as 0.1% – annually to support education for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

We’ve named it the “1 in 9 Fund” for the 1 in 9 children currently living in a war-affected country.

Why an ETF? Because this market is surging. They are accessible to the average retail investor because they have a much lower threshold for investment than traditional funds, and lower fees. For Pension Funds and Labour Unions that are being increasingly pushed for divestment by their members, the 1-in-9 Fund could be just the ethical investment product that a fund manager is looking for.

The global ETF market is growing by more than a trillion US dollars annually, meaning that with the right partnerships and strategy in place, we can profit from this growth without crowding out any existing, traditional sources of funding.

If the market does in fact grow to the projected 7.6 Trillion by end of 2020, this means that the 1-in-9 fund would need to attract approximately .65% of the market to meet our target of $50 million in annual revenue for Education Cannot Wait. 1% of the market would mean $76 million annually.

As ethical investing and ETF’s grow in popularity, there’s a risk that charities will continue to be excluded from the conversation.  We have a window of opportunity to be bold, and create the space that would allow us to flourish and claim our space alongside the CEOs, entrepreneurs and investors.

Our message to potential partners and investors is pretty simple. Let’s make money, not war. It is possible to invest responsibly, fund development projects, and make money – all at once. The 1-in-9 Fund is a big idea for a big challenge. We hope that you’re up for the challenge, because we certainly are.

Music has always been a vehicle for social change, a universal language that inspires us to reach beyond what’s possible and imagine a better world. Our partners at PLUS1 know the transformative power of music and the collective energy concerts create. That’s why they partner with performing artists to raise millions of dollars for high impact nonprofits like War Child USA that are addressing some of today’s most pressing issues. The work begins with a $1 per ticket add-on that makes fundraising simple, seamless and incredibly impactful.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Supports War Child USA

A big thank you to rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for supporting War Child USA on their Wrong Creatures tour. Through PLUS1 $1 from every ticket sold was donated to support our work, which will help transform the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.

PLUS1 recently caught up with the band to discuss what this partnership means to them and why they are passionate about helping kids in war-zones. Watch the video below:

We are so grateful to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for their generous support and to our incredible partner, PLUS1, for making it all possible! Fun fact: drummer Leah Shapiro’s mom is a War Child supporter too!

The BBC World Service Newsday team was in the Democratic Republic of Congo and caught up with one of the students from our innovative radio education program.

This program is the first of its kind in the world, targeting out-of-school girls who often can’t go to school because they can’t afford school fees, or face the threat of sexual violence getting to and from school. We send locally trained teacher’s aids into the villages (so the girls don’t have to leave) to support them. The lessons, created together with members of the Ministry of Education, are made specifically to target out-of-school girls and help them gain the skills to return to formal schooling or pursue a career. The results speak for themselves —  80% of students have now passed their national exams.

Watch the video to see the impact of this program firsthand, and make a donation to help put the power of education back in girls’ hands.