[This image depicts a Yemen civilian standing in front of rubble and debris left in the wake of the ongoing conflict]
Amid a global pandemic, a surge in anti-racism and economic plateaus across nations, Yemen has been forgotten and its crisis has peaked.
What is the Yemen Crisis?
The Yemen Crisis predates to 2011 when a revolution against former president Ali Abdulla Saleh occurred. After relentless attempts to reunite the fragmented government, an insurgency arose, and the Yemeni Parliament was dissolved. This sparked a civil war between the prominent political rivals of the Houthis (with support from Iran) and the Hadi Government. Saudi Arabia, supported by the UK, USA and France, joined the war to hinder the Houthis, started mass bombing Yemen, dramatically escalating the war. This war has been ongoing since 2014, leaving Yemen and its people in a vulnerable state.
Noorah Mabger,15, also shares her family experience and disappointment at the governments:
“As a Yemeni, who was born and raised in the UK, I am completely shocked from hearing this gut-wrenching news. I'd like to share my grandmother's personal experience with this. Well, I have been disconnected from my Grandmother, who has been trapped in Yemen because of the ongoing conflict making it a war zone. This means my widow grandmother is forever forced to live independently and is unable to come to the U.K. because she is deemed as a terrorist to the borders. Why is it fair for people to be stripped from their families, to endure suffering and wait out the endless wars? While my grandma was shopping, a grenade was thrown in her apartment and she came back to find windows shattered and a hole where her bedroom was. Innocent people like her shouldn’t be forced to suffer the outcomes of power-hungry leaders and enclosed by an outdated corrupted border and political system. Why should people like her live [with] constant fear always wondering if there would be electricity when she wakes up?”
It has now been 6 years on from the beginning of the war and its toll on the country and its citizens has worsened.
Yemen has a population of 24 million and according to UNICEF, half of the population are children. Children who are severely malnourished due to an ongoing famine. Children who are sick. Children who are suffering. They have been caught in the crossfire of the conflict resulting in many being killed or severely injured.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has magnified Yemen’s calamity, coining it to be “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world” by UNICEF.
Schools and Hospitals, alike, have been closed due to COVID-19 leading to many being unable to seek and receive medical treatment and around 7 million (5 additional million) children without education.
Sara Kader,15, a teenager, also shares her response:
“As a Yemeni myself, I am completely heartbroken at the fact that my home country is at a major risk and I have heard from my family, back in Yemen, how excruciating these illnesses are. Children are not able to live their life to their fullest instead they’re in pain and agony every second of every day and are dying at such young ages, not even knowing how to communicate physically and verbally. Not only are people suffering from illnesses such as malaria, but it ranges from cholera to corona. The floods themselves have caused major problems but, what about the problem that has been occurring for years".
Yemen, home to 24 million people, needs help and YOU can help.
Sign petitions and email your local MP to raise this Crisis in Parliament.
Donate to organisations who are supplying Humanitarian aid to Yemen.
Share and raise awareness.
The world has slept on Yemen’s crisis.
It’s time to wake up. It’s time to help.
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