Aftermath of Yemen Conflict Xinhua Barcroft Images

The Yemeni Crisis

Adithya Nair July 29, 2020 #globalconflict

Yemen is currently caught in the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century with 24 million people or 80% of the population in need of humanitarian aid.

The issue:

The country is going through its second civil war which started in 2015 and over 100,000 people have been killed by the conflict. The situation only gets worse every day. According to UNICEF, more than half of those in need of humanitarian aid are children and around 2 million children under the age of 5 are malnourished. Civilians are suffering the most due to the lack of essential items. Roads and buildings required for delivering food and water have been destroyed or taken over resulting in the price of food skyrocketing. Most cannot afford enough food for their families and have had to flee their homes to get away from conflict. Houthi rebels who are fighting the government have been accused of confiscating food, water, and other essential items from civilians.

American involvement in Yemen:

Ever since the start of the war, the United States supported its ally Saudi Arabia who is fighting against Yemeni forces. The U.S has sold over 110 billion in arms to Saudi since 2009. Many have been critical of America’s involvement and claim that the conflict will end if the U.S. pulls out. However, the U.S. continues to show support of Saudi and sells arms to them. Saudi forces use weapons without consideration of civilian lives which the U.S. knows but does nothing. Saudi Arabia targets Yemeni infrastructure as a strategy to cripple Yemen from the inside by causing civil unrest and to weaken enemy forces but the conflict has been stretched for years and thousands of civilian lives have been taken.

Covid-19 in Yemen:

The coronavirus has made things much worse than it already is in Yemen. Cases are spiking and most don’t have access to affordable healthcare which is crucial to stopping the spread of the virus. Most health workers are not receiving pay and basic sanitation supplies which is putting them at risk of getting the virus. They also get threatened and killed for doing their work causing many to flee in fear. Over 4 million people have been displaced and many of them live in areas with a high population density which further increases the danger of the situation. Many children could not afford school before the virus but now that schools have closed, 7.8 million children do not have access to education. There is a short supply of ventilators and test kits. Many are not aware of the dangers of the virus and its high contagiousness. The situation is getting worse every day and the UN has gone as far as airlifting testing kits to Yemen in hopes of slowing the spread.

How you can help:

One of the best ways you can help other than donating is to spread awareness about the issue. Not many people know about this and it doesn’t get much media attention even though millions of people are starving. Spreading awareness about this issue will allow it get more media attention and garner more donors. Another way to help is to sign petitions that demand change. For example, a petition on Change.org already has over 2.7 million signatures.

Here are some useful links to help :

Citations

“What's Happening in Yemen? .” BBC News, BBC, 28 Mar. 2918, www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38317367.

UNICEF. “Yemen Crisis.” UNICEF, 22 July 2020, www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis.

Bazzi, Mohamad. “America Is Likely Complicit in War Crimes in Yemen. It's Time to Hold the US to Account | Mohamad Bazzi.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Oct. 2019, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/03/yemen-airstrikes-saudi-arabia-mbs-us.

“Yemen: Displaced at Heightened Covid-19 Risk.” Human Rights Watch, 22 May 2020, www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/22/yemen-displaced-heightened-covid-19-risk.