Policy paper

Quint meeting on Yemen, 26 January 2022: joint communiqué

Published 26 January 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

© Crown copyright 2022

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quint-meeting-on-yemen-26-january-2022-joint-communique/93963a49-dc7f-4894-83b2-fbd7a29be0cd

  1. Senior representatives of the Governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, met on 26 January 2022 to discuss the situation in Yemen. The UN Special Envoy, Hans Grundberg, was warmly welcomed as a guest to the meeting.

  2. The Quint strongly condemned the Houthis’ repeated attacks against civilians within Yemen, including US local staff in Sana’a, and their continued heinous terrorist attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and more recently the United Arab Emirates. Such actions are obstructing peace efforts and exacerbating suffering. The Quint reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, and underlined the need to hold perpetrators of acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

  3. The Quint expressed full support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and their legitimate national security concerns and called for an immediate end to attacks by the Houthis. The Quint acknowledged the legitimate right of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to defend themselves against terrorist attacks in accordance with International Law, and in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, including taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm.

  4. The Quint further condemned the seizure of the Rwabee vessel off the coast of Yemen, highlighting the Houthis’ significant risk to the maritime security of vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.

  5. The Quint discussed the illicit Iranian provision of missiles and advanced weaponry to the Houthis in violation of UNSCR 2216 and UNSCR 2231.

  6. The Quint re-stated the importance of an urgent and comprehensive political solution to the conflict. The Quint re-affirmed their support for the UN Special Envoy’s (UNSE) efforts to achieve this end, including renewed political talks. They called upon the leadership of Yemeni parties to the conflict to engage constructively with the UN Special Envoy as he deepens his consultations with them.

  7. The Quint discussed the dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen and agreed that maintaining direct humanitarian and development support to the country is essential, including protecting the safety of humanitarian workers. Key humanitarian access routes must be protected to mitigate potential escalation to the humanitarian crisis.

  8. The Quint acknowledged that the economic crisis in Yemen is exacerbating humanitarian suffering and stressed the importance of additional economic support from the international community to stabilise Yemen’s economy, coupled with essential reforms to improve financial transparency.

  9. The Quint also discussed the need to find an urgent solution to the FSO SAFER and called upon the Houthis to allow UN access to the vessel to conduct an assessment of the tanker.

  10. The Quint agreed to meet on a regular basis to coordinate a response to the Yemen crisis and support the UN Special Envoy to Yemen.

Back to top