The Bells of Hunger Can Be Heard in Yemen

Although international efforts and the adoption of various laws have all tried to reduce the catastrophes of these wars, but nevertheless, the weakest groups of any society are burdened with the most problems. Conflict and its ensuing insecurities, has affected children who are the most vulnerable group, and by creating unclear living conditions, strongly affects their physical and mental growth and development. In this regard, perhaps one of the most felt repercussions of conflict for children is the spread of chronic malnutrition, drought, spread of environmental pollution and the destruction of crucial infrastructures of the country, which threatens the life of children for years after the end of conflict and establishment of stability.

According to reports and statistics of numerous catastrophes which engulfs our world every day, the situation of conflict and shortfalls which is taking place in Yemen, all indicate the existence of a human catastrophe. To such an extent that the UN has raised its warning level for Yemen to its highest. This UN action carries a message that it tells the world that something must be done to help the people of Yemen (this is the highest level of human warning that the UN has declared for a country).

According to the UN World Food Programme (WMF) in the Middle East and North Africa reports, the spread of the hunger and food shortage crisis that is as a result of the war in Yemen and the people’s lack of access, has resulted in more than 19 million of the people of the country to be faced with no food security, and 7 million of those have been reported in critical conditions.
This is while even before the start of the recent conflict, the people of this country had been suffering from the highest levels of malnutrition, and Yemen was deemed as one of the poorest countries of the Middle East, but with the launch of the Saudi attack, this crisis has been on the increase, and currently 31 percent of children under 5 are suffering from malnutrition.
Two to three out of every ten child in the Yemeni city of Al-Hadida die as a result of malnutrition; 80 percent of Yemenis need fundamental food aid, and the continued bombardment of the Saudi led forces in various regions of Yemen over the last year has destroyed over 500 hospitals and medical centres.

Furthermore WMF has warned that the malnutrition as a result of Saudi military aggression in Yemen may result in the failure of a whole generation of the people of the country. Even before the start of the war in Yemen, the country imported approximately 90 percent of its food needs, but the Saudi aggression, food imports have been noticeably disrupted, and the food and agricultural production has ground to a halt in the region.

The Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe regions director of the WFP says: “as well as financial damages, the conflict in Yemen, has caused great human fatalities, particularly among women and children, and hunger is spreading on a daily basis, and people are using all the abilities to survive, to such an extent that millions of Yemenis cannot live without foreign aids.”
According to a Guardian newspaper report the results of the studies of Save the Children show that despite last year’s commitments of world leaders to eradicate all forms of malnutrition by 2030, millions of children will suffer from physical and emotional consequences of malnutrition in this century.”

Although different international organizations are working towards breaking the hunger cycle in Yemen, but according to the WFP executive director Ms. Ertharin Cousin international help is consciously needed to stop the human catastrophe in Yemen, and the peace talks table may be the only hope of the people of the country so that the ear shattering sound of bell of the disproportionate war falls silent.

By: Nasibeh Sadat Alawi

www.unicef.org
www.savethechildren.org
www.UNHCR.org
http://fa.wfp.org
www.fa.alalam.ir