Yemen: A
Nation of Children the Hashtags Forgot
Posted: 14/02/2016
20:18 GMT Updated: 14/02/2016 20:59 GMT
Yemen has been decimated by a
yearlong, bitter, ongoing civil war. Despite its proximity to many better known
Middle Eastern countries (it shares a long border with Saudi Arabia) it fails
to gain the same level of international recognition that the fighting in Syria
and Iraq have attracted. A lack of profile sadly does not mean a lack of
problems and as the war trundles on, attempts to distribute aid are severely
hampered by fighting, damaged ports, closed airports, blocked humanitarian
corridors and a country-wide lack of fuel. The figures speak for themselves and
behind every one of these statistics is a human tragedy:
·
21.2million people are in need of humanitarian assistance - including
9.9million children - making Yemen the country with the highest number of
people in humanitarian need in the world right now
·
14.4million citizens are food insecure and the country is close to
famine, and 7.6m facing severe food shortages, 1.3m children are suffering
acute malnutrition
·
Over 5,700 people have been killed since March, including more than 630
children
·
3.4million children are out of school - this will have a long-term
impact not only on their futures, but also the development of the whole
country.
·
40% of the population are under 15, a whole generation of children
vulnerable both to war and to forces who would seek to radicalise them.
Hundreds of youths are joining extremist organisations out of desperation just
to feed their families
Rajaa* 7, was playing in the garden
when a missile hit her house. Her mother, sister and brother died. (Photo:
Muhammad Awadh/Save the Children)
It is no exaggeration to say that the
situation is one of the worst on the planet. The United Nations and the NGO
Action on Armed Conflict concluded that in the first seven months of 2015 more
civilians died and were injured by explosive weapons than in any other country
in the world. One area of particular vulnerability is the city of Taiz. As
troops fight for control of the city, 300,000 internally displaced people are
living under a "virtual state of siege" according to Stephen O'Brien, the UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief. Their health system is crippled;
medical supplies are rarely available except at hugely inflated prices on the
black market. There is a chronic lack of safe water and sanitation. Some
humanitarian access to the city's desperate inhabitants is possible, but
severely restricted.
To add to the misery, economic activity is grinding to a halt: I have
heard evidence from those with family still living in Yemen that over 70% of
private businesses have closed down or been physically destroyed by the
conflict and a similar percentage of private sector workers have lost their
jobs. Banks have been shutting down. One man told me that before the war,
businesses like his had a choice of 15 different banks; now he only has one,
and even that is at risk of closing shortly. This highlights the need for Aid
in the short term, but ultimately a political solution is essential to
revitalise the economy to provide food and livelihoods for the Yemeni
population on a sustainable basis.
Hazim* 10, is displaced with his family
from Sa'ada where it was too dangerous to remain (Photo: Mark Kaye/Save the
Children)
I have the privilege of sitting on
the International Development Select Committee, which monitors how UK Aid is
spent. We have recently launched an inquiry into the crisis in Yemen and hearing of the
heartrending suffering of the people there has led me to appeal directly to
you, the reader, on behalf of the young girls and boys of Yemen. Unlike many of
today's other much troubled areas of the world, which we see on our screens
daily, much of the world's mainstream and social media seem to be passing by
those suffering in Yemen.
If this article has moved you to have
a heart for the children of Yemen, spread the message by emailing this article
to a friend, or sharing it on social media. If you would like to give
financially you can donate to Save the Children's Yemen appeal; their life-saving programmes
have reached more than 379,000 people since March, including more than 211,800
children. Finally if you have first-hand evidence on Yemen, please make a
written submission to the International Development Committee, you can do so here.
Fiona Bruce is MP for Congleton and Chairman of the
Conservative Human Rights Commission
