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Yemen-Press Quoted from Saba News Agency, the escalation of the conflict since March 2015 has dramatically aggravated the protection crisis in which millions face risks to their safety and basic rights, OCHA reports. The UN has warned that Yemen, already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world before the conflict, is on the brink of widespread famine, which could lead to further massive loss of life.

In 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Yemen report, shows that 14.3 million people are classified as being in acute need, with around 3.2 million requiring treatment for acute malnutrition; that includes two million children under-five, and more than one million pregnant and lactating women.

Before the escalation of the war in Yemen, the country imported 90 percent of its staple food and nearly all its fuel and medicine.

After the war escalated in March 2015, border crossings, airports, and harbors have been closed intermittently.

In November 2018, the Saudi and UAE led Coalition completely shut down Hodeidah port for one month further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

Today, the Coalition continues to impose restrictions on commercial goods, fuel, food, and medicine coming into the country.

These restrictions have contributed to pushing up the price of essential goods and have created a shortage of medicines and fuel coming into the country.

Sana’a airport remains closed to domestic and international flights preventing Yemenis from getting treatment for life-threatening medical conditions abroad.

Highlighting that more than 20 million people across the country are food insecure, half of them suffering extreme levels of hunger, the report focuses on some key humanitarian issues: basic survival needs, protection of civilians and livelihoods and essential basic services.

Every day Yemeni civilians continue to be killed and injured in their homes, cars, buses, farms, and markets.

Houses, schools, hospitals and water tanks continue to be destroyed and damaged.

With air strikes inflicting the most damage.

Yemen was completely dependent on imports of food medicine and fuel before this crisis’ Similarly, CARE International’s Yemen director warned in September 2018 that Yemen may run out of food within two to three months, according to a 2017 report in the medical journal.

It has been alleged, moreover, that the Saudi-led coalition has been deliberately targeting, degrading and destroying Yemen’s food supplies.

The UN agency data shows that a total of 17.8 million people lack access to safe water and sanitation and 19.7 million lack access to adequate healthcare.

Poor sanitation and waterborne diseases, including cholera, left hundreds of thousands of people ill last year.

Yemen’s health care system is on the verge of collapse.

More than 55 percent of health facilities are only partially functioning or have been destroyed and ‘The underground water in all Yemeni cities is contaminated with sewage and treatment plants are not functioning because of lack of fuel and maintenance’.

Staple food items are now on average 150 percent higher than before the crisis escalated.

A combination of factors such the use of blockade, restrictions on commercial goods, the collapse of the economy and public services, coupled with disruptions to livelihoods and economic activities, with 600,000 jobs lost and with teachers, health workers and civil servants in the northern parts of the country not being paid for years is deepening the needs in Yemen and pushing millions of Yemenis to the brink of famine.

Close to 240,000 people are already living in famine-like conditions in some locations.

Hunger is most severe in the areas where there is fighting.

Food insecurity is most severe in areas with active fighting and is particularly affecting IDPs and host communities, marginalized groups, fishing communities, and landless wage laborers.

Meanwhile, grain which could help feed millions is still at risk of rotting in a key Red Sea storage facility because conditions are too unsafe to reach it, UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and UN Emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock said earlier.

The Yemen Data Project has reported that while the overall number of air attacks decreased during 2018, the proportion of those attacks striking civilian targets rose, while attacks on military targets fell.

They report that of the 3,362 air raids in Yemen in 2018, 420 of these air raids hit residential areas.

On average, it is estimated that 600 civilian structures are damaged or destroyed every month.

As many as 4.3 million people have been displaced during the conflict, including approximately 3.3 million people who remain displaced, and about 60 percent have been displaced since the conflict escalated four years ago.

In 2020, displacement is anticipated to continue in proportion to the intensity of conflict, with partners projecting that between 500,000 and 1.2 million people will be newly displaced depending on conflict dynamics.

Lack of wages and medication has led to the collapse of public health services, and few can afford private health services.

Lack of vaccines and medicine has caused many, especially children.

2 million Yemeni children have stopped attending school since 2015, according to the United Nations.

UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, said many schools are damaged, not in use or have become shelters for the displaced.

About 2,500 boys have joined the fighting.

More than half of Yemeni girls are married before 15.

Rights group Save the Children estimates that 85,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 may have died of starvation.

The protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure is not a luxury,” said Frank Mc Manus, Yemen country director at the IRC “It is an essential provision of international law.

When these laws fail civilians suffer.”

Original Article Source: Yemen Press | Published on Wednesday, 09 October 2019 15:30 (about 1632 days ago)