UN Issues Warning on Escalating Humanitarian Catastrophe in Yemen

The director of the World Food Programme warned that 16 million people suffering from malnutrition and hunger in Yemen will go without rations in winter if financial resources are not secured. Only half of the $4 billion requested by the United Nations has been provided.

Donor countries, during a virtual meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, allocated an additional $600 million for humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen. The United States will provide $290 million of this amount and the European Union will provide $119 million. However, the United Nations is seeking to secure a budget of $4 billion.

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, while welcoming assistance from wealthy countries, noted that this UN-affiliated organization does not have sufficient resources to meet the humanitarian needs of half of Yemen’s population. According to him, 12 million 900 thousand Yemeni citizens are suffering from malnutrition, health deficiencies, and lack of access to medicines and medical care. If the necessary budget is not provided, this number will reach 16 million people.

Beasley warned that if the shortfalls are not compensated, food rations for 3 million 200 thousand people would have to be reduced or cut off in October, and this will affect 5 million people in the following months. He also expressed gratitude for payments from the United States, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries, stating that these contributions prevented catastrophe and famine in Yemen in the early part of the year.

The director of the World Food Programme called on world leaders to use all their power to pressure the warring parties to end the bloodshed and suffering of ordinary people. He added: “If donors are tired of giving, then work to end the war.”

Henriette Fore, director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), also highlighted in the UN virtual meeting the emergency conditions of 11 million 300 thousand Yemeni children who need immediate assistance to survive. She said: “Two million 300 thousand children under five are severely malnourished, with 400 thousand of them at risk of death due to weakness and hunger.”

She added that some of these children are dying due to lack of childhood vaccinations.

Half of the Requested Budget Secured

UN Secretary-General António Guterres requested at the beginning of this year that wealthy countries provide $3 billion 850 million in budget needed for humanitarian assistance to Yemen. After nine months of the year, these countries have only committed to paying $1 billion 700 million of this amount; that is, roughly half of his request.

Guterres called this figure “disappointing.”

According to UN reports, every ten minutes a child in Yemen dies from completely preventable causes. The director of the World Food Programme says that budget adjustments to the World Food Programme in Yemen could result in the deaths of 400 thousand children under five in the coming year.

David Beasley addressed officials of donor countries in the virtual meeting saying: “Imagine they are your own young sons and daughters.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called humanitarian payments to Yemen vital in this meeting but added that the current crisis cannot be solved by money alone. He called on both sides of the internal conflict in Yemen, the Houthi rebels, government forces, and Saudi Arabia to work to ensure food supplies and fuel in Yemen. Fuel shortage has paralyzed Yemen’s weak economy and deprived people of the ability to distribute food and deliver daily necessities to hungry people.

Yemen is recognized as the poorest country in the world and has been embroiled in a power struggle and civil war for seven years between Shia Houthi militias and Sunni forces loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries formed a military coalition to support forces loyal to the government.

However, Iran supports the Houthis. The Yemen war is also called a proxy war between Tehran and Riyadh, the two regional Shia and Sunni rivals.

This war has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced. The United Nations has assessed the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Source: DW