The Power of Your Pen Campaign: 4 Years Later

On 19th March 2019, I joined Save the Children's supporters outside Westminster to demand the UK Government use the power of their pen to protect Yemen’s children. Months of campaigning in our communities culminated in us handing in a petition with more than 50,000 signatures to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

War has been raging on in Yemen since late 2014 when the Houthis (a rebel Shiite group) took control of Yemen’s capital city, Sana’a. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Gulf states to fight back against the Houthis and reinstate the government, using a campaign of economic isolation, airstrikes, and blockades. This conflict has led to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world with widespread hunger, disease, displacement, and civilian casualties.

Our campaign aimed to get the UK Government to commit to ending weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and to use its position as ‘Penholder’ for Yemen at the UN Security Council to push for peace and justice for Yemeni people.

In the lead up to the lobby day, Campaign Champions were active across the country raising awareness about what was happening in Yemen, the campaign and collecting signatures and messages of support. This included posting on social media, organising events or talks, running street stalls, engaging with student societies, and collaborating with Save the Children shops. Some of the amazing activities are pictured below.

In addition to promoting the campaign through social media, I personally ran street stalls in the three biggest towns in my constituency. I used these to engage with the local community about the campaign, gather petition signatures and also collect messages and drawings of support.

Months of campaign activity led to the lobby day and petition hand-in on 19th March 2019. I was one of 43 Campaign Champions at Westminster that day, along with other volunteers, supporters, staff and school children from across the country. We gathered outside of Parliament in the morning with banners and a display of pens collected at the Save the Children shops to demand that the government use words not war to save Yemen’s children.

This was followed by an event inside parliament where Campaign Champions met with 46 MPs, within just a few hours, to get their support. I also had the privilege to join a small group to hand in the petition (with 50,000 signatures!) and campaign book to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on behalf of Save the Children. These were received by Alistair Burt MP (former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at FCO) and Jeremy Hunt MP (former Foreign Secretary).

Save the Children were able to engage with MPs from across the UK throughout the campaign, both directly and through Campaign Champions. This included meeting with previously unengaged MPs. Tracking done by Save the Children showed that 75% of UK MPs had heard about the campaign.

Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary at the time, had worked on a new resolution for Yemen and began to work towards an agreement to get medical treatment for key Houthi fighters. He also became the first Foreign Minister to visit Yemen since the conflict escalated. Jeremy Hunt had specifically mentioned the work that Save the Children had done with its campaign to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

At the time of the campaign the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DFID) were separate entities—they are now known as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office—and this campaign was able to strengthen the relationship of these two organisations with regard to their work in Yemen.

It has been four years since the Power of Your Pen campaign and eight years since the Saudi-led coalition launched their offensive in Yemen in support of the government. Despite some positives which came out of the campaign, Yemen is still enduring an ongoing war and humanitarian crisis.

Save the Children has continued the campaign demanding the UK Government does more to support them. In March 2021, I met with my local MP about Yemen for the third time to try and gain his support. In April 2022, I teamed up with another Champ to hold a street stall to collect signatures for a new petition. Unfortunately, as the Yemen war approaches its eighth anniversary, it has become clear that the UK public have become more and more disconnected from what is happening in Yemen. The media and public interest are focused on Ukraine.

With 20 million Yemenis still in need of humanitarian assistance—including 13 million children— we cannot afford to forget or ignore those who are suffering.

If you want to read some more blogs written by our Campaign Champions, take a look at their Medium page here- Save the Children UK Campaign Champions Blog – Medium