The violence in Yemen has triggered what has been defined as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The ongoing conflict originated in 2014, when rebels belonging to the Houthi movement, a Zaidi Shia minority, took control of the capital Sanaa, pushing the then-incumbent president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee the country in March 2015. The conflict soon instigated the involvement of regional powers such as Saudi Arabia which, concerned about Iran’s support to the Houthi movement, has led a military coalition supported by other Arab states, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, to restore Mr. Hadi’s government.
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project have reported that both coalitions have committed war crimes, killing more than 100.000 people. With 24 million people in need of humanitarian aid, amounting to 80 percent of the country’s population, Yemen has been ranked as the country most at risk of humanitarian catastrophe in 2021 by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Indeed, the crisis is expected to intensify due to the continuation of conflict, the excessive amount of people facing food insecurity and famine, and the decrease in aid received to face the emergency. In November, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock denounced the relevant decrease in donation for the current year, amounting to $ 1.5 billion, compared to the $3 billion received last year. The current donations amount to only 45 percent of what is required to face this humanitarian catastrophe.
Given the seriousness of the crisis, IRC’s deputy nutrition coordinator, Abeer Fowzi, has denounced the decrease in support, claiming that the country has never received so little assistance in a time in which it is enduring so many challenges. Meanwhile, the end of the conflict does not seem near as, despite the repeated UN effort to resume the dialogue, the peace talks were interrupted in 2018, leaving the country to face a devastating humanitarian crisis.
To read more, please visit:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/16/irc-warns-yemen-at-risk-of-massive-deterioration-in-2021
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN27R2VO
Author: Carla Leonetti; Editor: Francesca Mencuccini
