This report, jointly published by CAAT and the Transition Security Project, argues that Britain should pay reparations to the people of Yemen for its role in crimes committed against them by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and their coalition allies during the Yemeni civil war.
Yemen remains devastated by years of war. The Saudi-led coalition’s indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure, coupled with a punishing air-and-sea blockade, are among the leading causes of what became the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in the late 2010s. Hundreds of thousands died from violence, hunger and preventable disease, and over half the country’s population remain in need of humanitarian assistance. The richest states in the Middle East imposed a man-made humanitarian disaster on the poorest state in the region, with the collaboration of some of the richest countries in the world, including the United States and United Kingdom. Today, the UN’s aid programme for Yemen remains underfunded as those wealthy states continue to evade accountability.
These reparations should be part-funded by a windfall tax on the British arms companies who supplied the weapons, spare parts, training and engineering support that sustained the Saudi-led coalition’s 2015–2022 intervention in that war. The amount raised by this windfall tax should then be matched by the British state, funded by restoring the overseas aid budget to 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI), rather than cut to 0.3 per cent as the government currently plans. By our calculations, a windfall tax on profits made by two leading British arms companies from weapons they sold to the Saudis during the war could raise up to £3.9 billion. With the British state matching this sum, a reparations payment of £7.8 billion would help address the urgent humanitarian needs in Yemen — which British policy has helped to create — and provide a foundation for Yemen’s economic recovery.
The report is written by Dr. Sam Perlo-Freeman (CAAT Research Coordinator), Khem Rogaly (Co-Director, Transition Security Project, Principal Research Fellow, Common Wealth), and Dr. David Wearing (Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex)
