Dr Judith Brown of Farrington Gurney was awarded a Master’s Degree in Research with Merit at the University of the West of England graduation ceremony on Tuesday, 27th November, after researching media coverage of the Yemen War.

Judith, who is a Doctor of Arab and Islamic Studies, is 72 years old; she lived and worked in Yemen between 1998–2001, and kept frequent contact with her Yemeni friends and has been very distressed at their suffering during the current conflict.

Although at the United Nations Security Council in 2015 it was stated that after five months of war, Yemen was as severely damaged as Syria was after five years, the extent of damage and suffering has not been reflected in the British media, with the war often being referred to as the ‘Forgotten War’. Furthermore, she argues the extent of UK support has not been the subject of media scrutiny. Judith’s work investigated why this comparative media silence occurred.

Judith has friends in Yemen, who have lost their jobs, or had their University courses terminated by war; friends whose homes have been destroyed, friends who have died as a consequence of war, friends whose children have suffered from malnutrition and one friend whose newborn child had congenital defects similar to those in other parts of the world where huge quantities of munitions have been dropped.

She says it is rare to find anyone whose lives have not been seriously disrupted by the conflict, for example, Save the Children state that 85,000 children under five have died from starvation in this conflict so far.

Judith urges everyone to donate to the Yemen Emergency Fund, as Yemeni people feel deserted by the world. This will help save young lives, as well as making Yemeni people feel that they are not forgotten by the world community.