The Only Way to End Suffering in Yemen is to End the War

SH.A.

Ireland is set to donate €5million in aid to Yemen as the country battles with what has been described as the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.

A leading charity has said families are so poor children are being forced into marriages for money.

International Development Minister Ciaran Cannon pledged to boost Irish aid while addressing a UN conference in Geneva yesterday. The Swiss conference aims to raise €3.7billion for the country’s humanitarian fund.

To date, the Saudi-led coalition has displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, towns and villages, caused outbreaks of infectious diseases and famine in some areas, and wrought significant destruction of Yemen’s infrastructure.

According to statistics from UN bodies and organizations, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, with many more suffering from deteriorating humanitarian conditions, outbreaks of disease and epidemics, especially cholera, and a decline in the volume of cash reserves.

The reason that Khashoggi captured more press coverage where Yemen did not was not because of the absence of gore and violence, but because the gore and violence in Yemen is “Made In USA” and bought and paid for, with US military personnel providing maps, targets and fuel for the bombing campaign, and US Navy units intercepting shipping to prevent weapon deliveries to the Houthis.

Yemen’s humanitarian crisis is the most important story in the world, but because its victims are poor and practically invisible to the rest of the world their stories are mostly unheard and then ignored even when they are told.

Children in Yemen are living in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world because of the coalition’s war for nearly four years. The only way to end this suffering is to end the war.