The humanitarian situation in Yemen is deteriorating as a result of the ongoing war on Yemen for the sixth consecutive year by the US-British-backed war coalition on Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and UAE. In addition, such humanitarian situations were described by the United Nations as the worst in the world.
Yemen is facing the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) with a collapsed health sector that was destroyed by coalition warplanes raids, and in the absence of medicines and medical supplies due to the coalition blockade.
The countries of the war coalition against Yemen played a prominent and major role in introducing COVID-19 into Yemen by deporting Yemeni and non-Yemeni expatriates from the UAE and Saudi Arabia without taking the necessary precautions to check them medically and to ensure that they are free from the virus.
The war coalition countries took the transfer of Coronavirus (COVID-19) to Yemen as a method of warfare and did not observe the legal and moral obligations contained in international humanitarian law and international human rights law that criminalize the practice of such acts.
COVID-19 has emerged in different regions and governorates including Sana’a, the Capital Secretariat. The Ministry of Health in Sana’a works to provide the necessary healthcare for COVID-19 confirmed cases, following up those who mixed up with them and monitoring their cases. According to the Ministry of Health reports, the rate of COVID-19 recovered cases in Yemen amounts to more than 80% of total cases that emerged in Sana’a, the Capital Secretariat, and a number of other governorates.
COVID-19 patients are treated on the basis of their human rights and that they have dignity and right to healthcare and treatment, and not as numbers on the stock exchange dashboard where media outlets race to present, spreading terror and intimidation among societies and reducing morale among patients and their families.
Official authorities in Sana’a are keen to deal with coronavirus pandemic based on creating a state of reassurance and enhancing precautionary measures to the highest levels. It is a different method from that global terrorism, practiced by many countries with their citizens, spreading fear and terror among them and consequently causing death to many of them.
The Ministry of Health relied on the available means to face the Coronavirus pandemic due to the inefficiency of the tests provided by the World Health Organization. This has contributed to the failure to provide an accurate number of the confirmed cases.
In Aden, dozens of COVID-19 death cases are announced and other confirmed cases are still in need of life-saving treatment. However, international organizations, especially UN-related organizations, did not respond to their calls. The hospitals of Sana’a, the Capital Secretariat, had to receive a number of them, follow them up and provide appropriate treatment to save their lives through self-efforts, despite the international organizations’ neglect and failure.
The forces of the war coalition countries go on besieging, starving and killing Yemeni people aggressively and brutally by impeding the arrival of ships of oil derivatives, domestic gas, foodstuffs, medicine and other urgent needs to the port of Hodeidah, despite completing all inspection procedures in Djibouti according to the UN mechanism of verification and inspection. All this is taking place, while the world is mobilizing all its forces to face COVID-19 pandemic, which ravages all humanity. As a result of this pandemic, Yemenis face the risk of death amidst a blockade that prevents the entry of oil derivatives ships needed to supply hospitals to face the threat of the virus. The lives of millions of Yemenis are threatened due to the lack of health and logistical capabilities to face diseases and epidemics. This has contributed to spread of the disease that is killing the Yemenis.
The countries of War Coalition on Yemen were not confined to the blockade, an arbitrary measure in violation of international law, but have also closed Sana’a airport since August 2018, giving no attention to humanity. This has intensified the suffering of patients and travelers, as they need to travel through Sayun or Aden airports. It takes them three days to reach the airport by land. Some patients are exposed to death on the way, while some others are unable to travel due to the failure to afford overland travel for three days. On the other hand, some of these travelers have been kidnapped, arrested, violently tortured and inhumanly mistreated.
The suffering of Al-Durayhimi city inhabitants is tragic due to the ongoing siege by the mercenaries of the war coalition countries. This is considered a war crime and a premeditated crime against humanity committed in public. All this is happening in full view of the United Nations, its envoy to Yemen, and its mission that oversee the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement for Hodeidah, the agreement that the UN tries to convince the world that it could not be implemented. In the context of its policy of double-dealing, the UN seeks to depict what is happening in Yemen as a Yemeni-Yemeni conflict, giving no reference to the external parties that are waging war on Yemen, led by the US, KSA and UAE. The UN is well aware that it the US that stands behind the impediment of the Swedish Agreement implementation and behind the decision to continue the war and the blockade. It rejects any initiatives that would solve the Yemeni political and economic file and instructs its agents in the region, KSA and UAE, to escalate their attacks in Hodeidah. Failure to implement the relevant Swedish Agreement has further exacerbated the tragedy of Yemen. Consequently, the health sector is incapable to face COVID-19 pandemic.
