Leading aid organisation Save The Children has urged Australia to ramp up its humanitarian efforts in Yemen, as arms exports to Saudi Arabia continue to be approved.
The kingdom has been accused of war crimes in Yemen, where tens of thousands have died in the bloody conflict which has left 24 million including 11 million children needing humanitarian assistance.
Ahead of a high-level pledging conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Save The Children policy director Mat Tinkler is urging the government to do more.
The United Nations has warned that the situation in Yemen is getting worse as a four-year long conflict continues. Source: AAP
"The scale of this crisis is difficult to fathom. A child is dying every ten minutes in a war waged by adults," Mr Tinkler said.
"The Australian government should pledge more funding to the humanitarian response, and it should immediately ban Australian defence exports to Saudi Arabia and its allies."
At Senate estimates last week, the government confirmed it gave money to a defence manufacturer to help them market their product to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Defence officials said they granted export permits to an Australian company that sold 500 weapons mounting systems to Saudi Arabia.
"Australians would be horrified to learn that our weapons and know-how are potentially fuelling this war, or that taxpayer subsidies are supporting companies arming the key combatants," Mr Tinkler said.
"Australians would certainly expect our government to be contributing more to the humanitarian response than to the supply of weapons to the same conflict."
Foreign Minister Marise Payne last week said the government was reviewing whether to ban arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
Italy, Denmark and Finland have all announced plans to follow Germany's lead in banning arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said government policy was under review. Source: AAP
The US Congress has also called for an end to support for Saudi Arabia, while the UK House of Lords has deemed arms sales to the kingdom illegal.
Australia has spent $23 million in direct aid to Yemen in almost four years.
