THE Irish Government has pledged a further €5million to help the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” in Yemen where more than 24million people are in need.
Speaking in a United Nations meeting about the crisis in Geneva, the Minister for International Development Ciaran Cannon said we will now have donated €22m since 2012 to the poverty-stricken country.
The UN conference said they are hoping to raise €3.7billion for humanitarian operations.
Yemen has been savaged by a civil war between government forces and the Houthi army, who claim they are the official leaders.
It has been at war since 2015, when the Houthis forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.
There are 31 active conflict zones in the country and every day eight children are killed or injured.
Oxfam has said food is scarce since the escalation in conflict in 2015.
Families have been forced to marry off their daughters, including one girl as young as three, to buy food and shelter for the rest of their clan.
Fighting has also forced families to flee to areas that have no schools as well as no proper sanitation, electricity or water facilities.
Minister Cannon said: “Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“A staggering 24million Yemenis, almost 80 per cent of its population, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
“In 2019 we will disburse a further €5m to the Yemen Humanitarian Fund.”
Below, Oxfam Ireland’s Humanitarian Manager Colm Byrne, who returned from Yemen last week where he was visiting Oxfam’s water and sanitation projects with communities forced to flee, reveals what the situation is like on the ground.
The fact that 14million people in Yemen are one step away from famine is a sign that as an international community, we have already failed to live up to our collective commitment to the principle of humanity.
This is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and it is entirely man-made, fuelled by arms sales from the UK, the US and others.
As this war has gone on, people’s means of coping with terrifying levels of hunger have become more and more desperate, forcing people to make impossible choices that blight their children’s lives now and for decades to come.
Homes, hospitals, schools have been bombed. Families have been forced to flee to isolated areas that lack water networks, proper sewage systems, health centres, schools.
Many people live in tents or mud houses that offer little to no protection against sun, rain or freezing temperatures during winter nights.
The failure to ensure lasting peace in Yemen over four long years has not only shattered the economy but the lives of innocent people, now living in situations too desperate and horrifying to imagine.
Today in Geneva, governments, including Ireland, took a step toward alleviating the suffering of millions of people in Yemen by pledging US$2.6billion (€2.29bn) so far. US$4.2bn is needed to support an estimated 24million people in Yemen – almost 80 per cent of the population – who urgently need access to food, clean water, education and adequate health care.
Since July 2015, Oxfam has helped more than 3million people in nine governorates of Yemen with water and sanitation services, cash assistance and food vouchers.
Right now, we’re providing aid to people forced to flee their home from Hudaydah in Hajjah and Taiz.
We are ready to scale up our activities in Yemen and depend on donors for continued funding.
Yet financial support is not enough. We desperately need commitments from some of the very same countries present today to allow unconditional access for humanitarian assistance and commercial imports to all parts of the country.
We want to hear world leaders promise to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, and to hold to account those who disregard international law.
The countries selling arms to warring parties in Yemen need to stop these deals with immediate effect and put in place strong monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
We need to see a countrywide ceasefire, protection of humanitarian workers and an inclusive peace agreement.
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Only an end to hostilities can truly end the suffering of the Yemeni people.
They do not have the luxury to wait for peace any longer – they are dying every single day this war continues.
To donate to Oxfam’s aid for Yemen, visit oxfamireland.org/yemen