The suffering of the Yemeni people continues due to the ongoing war of the coalition countries and the imposition of a comprehensive blockade on Yemen since 2015.
The humanitarian disaster and suffering inflicted on the Yemeni people as a result of the war and blockade by the coalition countries against Yemen falls under the responsibility of the United Nations and its humanitarian organizations, since humanitarian issues and situations are not linked to any political or military issues, according to the relevant UN regulations and conventions.
International humanitarian organizations have warned that Yemen is teetering on the brink of complete collapse, with more than 80% of the population in need of urgent protection and humanitarian aid, as the population suffers from the ravages of war and hunger, as well as health threats exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent events.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), about ten thousand people out of 20,000 live in famine-like conditions in Al-Jawf Governorate, and this number is expected to nearly double by June 2021. Meanwhile, the number of those suffering from famine-like conditions may reach about 12,000 people in Amran governorate, and 15,500 in Hajjah governorate, by the end of the first half of next year.
Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, indicated that Yemenis are being “starved” by a war that is pushing the country towards famine. Besides, the economy is collapsing and donors are offering much less help than required. He pointed out that humanitarian agencies in 2020 received only about half as much money as 2019. “That’s why we’ve cut the number of people receiving food aid. And we’ve closed clinics and water stations,” he added. This will lead to lack of food and subsequently to the highest levels of food insecurity that Yemen is witnessing.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, points out that in Yemen: “A child dies every ten minutes from a preventable disease. More than two million children are out-of-school. Thousands of children have been killed, seriously injured, or recruited to the fighting during the last year. In December only, 11 children were reportedly killed, including a one-month-old baby. She added, “Economy is in tatters and families can no longer cope. Support systems and infrastructure — from hospitals and schools, to water and sanitation systems — are on the brink of collapse.” She also pointed out that Yemen is facing a nutrition crisis: “2.1 million children are acutely malnourished … We believe famine-like conditions have already begun for some children.”
The Supreme Economic Committee of the National Salvation Government in Sana’a confirms that the United Nations has not signed the maintenance agreement of FSO Safer tanker, which the Salvation Government had signed in Sana’a. The committee also called on the United Nations to make full and transparent disclosure of the budget allocated for the immediate maintenance and comprehensive assessment of FSO Safer tanker after signing the agreement. The committee held the United Nations responsible for delaying the signing and dispatch of the maintenance teams, which will arrive according to the United Nations statement on 15 February 2021.
The US continues to support the war on Yemen. Meanwhile, it has stopped all humanitarian aid to Yemen, namely, the provinces that fall under the control of the National Salvation Government in Sana’a. The Washington Post reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration has formally notified Congress of its intention to sell precision bombs worth nearly $ 500 million to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The deal includes 7,500 “Paveway IV” precision-guided bombs, worth $478 million.
Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) in Sana’a confirms that the countries of the war coalition on Yemen practice blockade and piracy on the oil derivatives ships in order for those ships to remain on sea and thus fines get multiplied on them. The detention of fuel ships incurred large fines, and some of them amounted to more than the value of the oil derivatives the ship is carrying. After that, they are released.
The National Salvation Government in Sana’a holds the United Nations responsible for its inability to implement the Sweden Agreement, calling on the UN to fulfill its humanitarian duty and return to the point of neutrality, as it has become today on the side of the countries of the war coalition on Yemen.
The National Salvation Government in Sana’a calls on all free people and civil society organizations in the world to stand with the grievance of the Yemeni people and pressure the UN to reopen Sana’a International Airport and Hodeidah Port, and to stop the detention of oil derivatives, food and medicine ships in Yemeni territorial waters.
The National Salvation Government in Sana’a repeatedly calls the UN to send its technical team for an immediate access to “FSO Safer” tanker, which is stranded off the port of Hodeidah. The government shows deep concerns about the possibility of oil spill from it and the growing risk that it could rupture or explode causing an environmental catastrophe for Yemen and the Red Sea. The UN Special Rapporteur on Toxic Substances and Human Rights, Marcos A. Orellana, asserts that, “It is vital that a UN technical team be permitted to board the FSO Safer, if we are to have any hope of preventing the threat of a spill that could be four times worse than the historic Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989.” He also indicated that if the ship were to break up, a spill could decimate livelihoods of local coastal communities, biodiversity in the region, and heavily impact shipping routes in the Red Sea.
