Health Official Asks for UN Chief’s Rapid Measures to Prevent Humanitarian Catastrophe in Yemen

“Since the outbreak of the Corona(virus) pandemic, the World Health Organization and the United Nations have made great efforts to decrease deaths resulting from the virus worldwide. According to official statistics, over 1,380,000 people across the world have lost their lives due to the corona virus, as there is still no definitive solution or treatment to prevent such deaths,” Dr. Marandi wrote in his letter to Guterres.

^{Dr. Alireza Marandi}

He referred to the remarks by the Secretary-General of the World Food Program at a recent Security Council meeting on the situation in Yemen who warned that the poor Arab country is on the verge of a catastrophe, and said, “The United Nations has previously admitted that Yemen is facing the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis and that 80 percent of the country’s 30 million people are in dire need of foreign aid.”

“Your deputy for humanitarian and relief affairs also admitted that because of the famine in Yemen people are starving to death,” Dr. Marandi said.

He underlined that unlike the Coronavirus, there is a simple cure to prevent what is admitted as the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis, the starvation of millions of oppressed women, children and men in Yemen, noting that no real action has been taken.

“Unfortunately, the attacks of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against the proud Yemeni people, which began in April 2015, continue with western material and logistical support amid the sickening silence of international organizations. No action has been taken to lift the siege and help the starving people of Yemen. You are answerable to history,” Dr. Marandi said in his letter.

The United Nations warned on Thursday that malnutrition in conflict-hit Yemen has reached record levels, saying almost half of the population is experiencing high levels of food insecurity, as time is running out to prevent mass starvation.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the number of people facing the second highest level of food insecurity in Yemen is set to increase from 3.6 million people to 5 million in the first half of 2021.

“Pockets of famine-like conditions have already returned for the first time in two years,” WFP said in a statement, adding, “The number of people experiencing this degree of catastrophic food insecurity could nearly triple from 16,500 currently to 47,000 people between January and June 2021.”

According to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, around 45% of Yemen’s population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

It noted that within this number, 33% of the Yemeni population are in crisis, while 12% are in emergency.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

The Ansarullah movement, backed by armed forces, has been defending Yemen against the Saudi-led alliance, preventing the aggressors from fulfilling the objectives of the atrocious war.