A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru
Category Archives: Yemen
‘No country immune’ from UK’s aid cuts, says Raab
Foreign secretary denies that aid organisations are scared to speak out or people are going hungry
The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has told MPs that “no country is immune” from the impending aid cuts, but failed to clarify when specific plans would be made public.
Speaking after the release of the first details of the £4bn cuts to international aid, which have been widely criticised as “draconian” and opaque, the minister confirmed “no stand-alone” impact assessment had been carried out in individual countries but that “we identify risks we see across the board”.
Continue reading...No impact assessment made of Yemen aid cuts, official admits
Minister tells MPs that cuts come at ‘terrible’ time, with 16m close to famine as Covid infections double
The UK government has admitted that no assessment has been carried out of how “dire” the impact of the 60% cut in foreign aid to Yemen will be.
Related: UK 'balancing books on backs of Yemen's starving people', says UN diplomat
Continue reading...‘People are not starving, they’re being starved’: millions at risk of famine, NGOs warn
Open letter backing UN call to action says Covid has exacerbated problems of conflict, climate crisis and inequality
World leaders are being urged to act immediately to stop multiple famines breaking out, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and caused by conflict, climate crisis and inequality.
In an open letter published on Tuesday to support the UN Call for Action to Avert Famine in 2021, hundreds of aid organisations from around the world said: “People are not starving – they are being starved.”
Continue reading...‘If we don’t give, people don’t eat’: Yemen focus of UK Ramadan giving
As Britain cuts aid to war-torn country on brink of famine Muslim charities are directing donations towards feeding population
The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which started this week, is the biggest period of giving for UK Muslims.
According to research by the Muslim Charities Forum, in 2018 the UK’s estimated 3.5 million Muslims donated more than £120m to global charitable causes during Ramadan, at a rate of £46 every second.
Continue reading...Iranian ship thought to be used as military base attacked, says Tehran
Israel suspected of planting explosives on MV Saviz anchored in Red Sea
The Iranian foreign ministry has confirmed that an Iranian cargo ship believed to be covertly deployed for military use off the coast of Yemen has been attacked, in an incident that threatens to inflame a proxy war between Iran and Israel.
Officials in Tehran said on Wednesday that the MV Saviz had been targeted in the Red Sea, a day after media reports said the ship had suffered damage after being hit by limpet mines. Images broadcast by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency showed parts of the ship on fire. Tasnim said an explosion had targeted the hull.
Continue reading...Liquid gold: beekeepers defying Yemen war to produce the best honey
Despite the dangers, more Yemenis are turning to the sector as an alternative means of income
According to the Qur’an a lone sidr tree, or jujube, marks the highest boundary of heaven. On earth, amid the harshness of the Yemeni desert, the sweetness of sidr honey is cherished as a symbol of perseverance.
Yemen has long been renowned for producing some of the best honey in the world, often compared to Mānuka honey from New Zealand. Some of the highest quality, and purest, comes from bees fed exclusively on the flowers of the sidr, producing a pale coloured honey with a fiery, almost bitter aftertaste.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia proposes ceasefire to Yemen’s Houthi rebels to end war
Moves aimed at ending six-year war include partial lifting of blockade on Sana’a airport and some sea ports
Saudi Arabia has offered Yemen’s Houthi rebels a nationwide ceasefire in a series of proposals aimed at ending the brutal six-year war in the country, including the partial lifting of the blockade on Sana’a international airport and some seaports.
Riyadh also said it would support a UN humanitarian corridor in the oil rich city of Marib, which has been under months of bombardment by the Houthis.
Continue reading...UN calls for inquiry after rebels fired missiles into Yemen detention centre
Dozens of Ethiopian migrants died and UN special envoy described the deaths as ‘extraordinarily horrific’
The UN has called for an independent inquiry into a horrific fire at a detention facility in Yemen’s capital Sana’a that left dozens of Ethiopian migrants dead and more than 170 injured.
Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that the fire on 7 March occurred after Houthi rebels fired missiles into the detention centre where the migrants were protesting over their cramped conditions.
Continue reading...Aid spending cuts may not get put to Commons vote, No 10 suggests
Denying MPs their say could head off Tory rebellion but potentially open government to legal action
A planned reduction in aid spending may not go to a vote in the Commons, Downing Street has indicated, which would head off a likely rebellion by Conservative MPs but could expose the government to legal action.
Pressed repeatedly on whether the cut in the aid budget from 0.7% of national income – which is set out in law under the 2015 International Development Act – would be subject to a Commons vote or a new act, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson declined to confirm this.
Continue reading...On the ground in Yemen: ‘A place of wonder overshadowed by conflict’
Our Turkey and Middle East correspondent reflects on a violent, tangled conflict that touches even the youngest lives
Yemen, and very dear Yemeni friends, hold a special place in my heart. But every visit is a bittersweet experience; even memories of the nicest afternoon can end up enveloped in sadness.
During a 2019 trip, I was waiting for permission from the Houthi rebels to travel to the north, and got stuck in a desert town called Marib for a few days. I was tired from nonstop travel, the heat, eating badly, and trying to get any decent reporting done. Nothing happens very quickly in Yemen, if it happens at all.
Continue reading...UK ‘balancing books on backs of Yemen’s starving people’, says UN diplomat
Exclusive: former DfID secretary Mark Lowcock shocked by decision of Johnson’s government to cut aid
Ministers have decided to “balance the books on the backs of the starving people of Yemen” in an act that will see tens of thousands die and damage the UK’s global influence, the head of the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs has said.
Speaking with rare bluntness after the UK more than halved its funds to help Yemen, the former permanent secretary at the Department for International Development Mark Lowcock said he was shocked by the decision. It is understood he was given no chance to appeal to the UK to rethink.
Continue reading...We’ve cut aid to Yemen and children will starve – is this what global Britain means?
Monday’s announcement confirmed my worst fears – not even those in the most desperate crises are safe from aid cuts
Three weeks ago, foreign office minister James Cleverly told me that in the face of drastic cuts to the UK’s aid budget, Yemen would remain a UK priority country and the government would use the full force of its diplomatic efforts to bring about peace.
On Monday, those words rang hollow when he announced the UK was slashing humanitarian aid to Yemen by more than 50% compared with last year. As a consequence, an already devastated country now faces the worst famine in decades and the prospect of lasting peace seems further away than ever.
Continue reading...War and famine could wipe out the next generation of Yemenis
After years of violence half the population is going hungry and 400,000 under fives are at risk of dying from malnutrition
Eleven-year-old Sadia Ibrahim Mahmud was so weak she could not even move the blanket covering her tiny frame by herself.
“I want to get better, and I want to go to school,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. The autumn sunlight pouring into the malnutrition ward at a Sana’a hospital hurt her eyes; she turned her head on the pillow and tried to rest.
Continue reading...‘Falling off a cliff’: pandemic crippling world’s most fragile states, finds report
The world’s poorest are becoming poorer as the impact of Covid compounds existing crises, says Disaster Emergency Comittee
Thousands could starve in the world’s most fragile states as the pandemic comes on top of existing crises, warns a new report today which found aid workers are deeply pessimistic about the coming year.
The survey of aid workers by the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) found that they believed humanitarian conditions were at their worst in a decade.
Continue reading...A massive famine is creeping into Yemen, we need to stop it devouring a generation | Mark Lowcock and Ignazio Cassis
Monday’s high-level meeting convened by UN will call for immediate funding to slow the hunger endangering millions
In November the United Nations issued a warning that Yemen was in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades.
Today Yemen is fast approaching the point of no return. Yet, just as the country reaches its darkest hour, an opportunity has presented itself.
Continue reading...Biden can help end Yemen civil war by backing referendum, say separatists
Southern Transitional Council president says US leader should support a vote on independence for the South
Joe Biden can help end the six-year civil war in Yemen by backing a UN-sponsored referendum on independence for the South, the president of Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi claimed a referendum would show 90% support for independence for Yemen’s South and should be held exclusively within the South, pointing out that in the Brexit referendum the rest of the European Union was not given a vote.
Continue reading...‘He treated me as a slave’: Women face rising violence amid war in Yemen
Civil war has drastically cut support services for women already at high risk of violence while displacing others who are now vulnerable to armed groups
Rima* was married the year civil war erupted in Yemen. She was 15 and for much of the time over the next five years, her husband kept her chained to a wall in their home in central Yemen. “He didn’t treat me as a wife, he treated me as a slave,” says the 21-year-old.
An aunt eventually took pity on Rima, taking her to a psychosocial support centre in the town of Turba, 90 miles (145km) north-west of Aden. According to a doctor there, Rima now suffers from a neurological disorder brought on by the constant beatings.
Continue reading...Yemen risks worst famine on planet in ‘decades’, say UN officials
Thousands more civilians could be displaced due to attacks by Houthi rebels in Marib province
The conflict in Yemen has taken a “sharp escalatory turn” and the country is speeding towards the worst famine the world has seen in decades, UN officials have warned, as the US under Joe Biden takes a renewed interest in finding a diplomatic solution to the war.
In one of his more downbeat monthly assessments, the UN special envoy Martin Griffiths told the security council attacks by the Houthi rebels in Marib province are threatening to displace tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom had fled to Marib from fighting elsewhere in Yemen.
Continue reading...UK authorised £1.4bn of arms sales to Saudi Arabia after exports resumed
Campaigners accuse ministers of ‘putting profit before Yemeni lives’ as figures revealed
British officials authorised the export of almost £1.4bn of weapons to Saudi Arabia in the quarter after the UK resumed sales of weapons that could be used in the war in Yemen.
Campaigners accused ministers of “putting profit before Yemeni lives” and said the figures highlighted the discrepancy between the UK and the US, which under President Joe Biden halted similar arms sales to Riyadh last week.
Continue reading...