Bombed in air war, stalled by redacted files: How German authorities have failed Yemeni plaintiffs

In 2021, three Yemeni nationals contested Germany’s licensing of military equipment exports to the final destinations of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who led the military alliance that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 with massive airstrikes against the civilian population. The aim of the plaintiffs was to finally put an end to the shipment of German arms that had repeatedly put their lives and wellbeing in danger. But four years later, that hope has been exhausted. A seemingly endless saga of administrative inaction and lack of transparency, coupled with the fact that the German legal system on this occasion made it impossible for the plaintiffs to calculate the potential financial cost of pursuing the legal action, has led to them deciding to withdraw the case.