Humanitarian Catastrophe Threatens Over 26 Million Yemenis Due to Continued Detention of Oil Tankers

An economic working paper has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe threatening more than 26 million Yemenis due to the continued detention of oil tankers by the US-Saudi aggression.

The working paper, which was prepared by the legal advisor at the Ministry of Human Rights, Hamid Al-Rafiq, confirmed that Yemen is currently witnessing one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in the world as a result of the US-Saudi siege amid imposing arbitrary restrictions on imports of oil derivatives, food and medicine.

The economic paper stated that the continued detaining of oil tankers for long periods is a major reason for the stop of many basic service sectors, especially the health sector, as a number of hospitals and health centers indeed stopped providing services to patients due to the lack of oil derivatives.

The seizure of ships also led to a crisis of oil products, affecting the lives of citizens, the economic, social and living conditions and food security in the country, increasing poverty and unemployment rate, high prices, as well as the increasing need for food security.

The data indicated that more than 12 million people face a large deficit in food consumption.

The paper concluded that the percentage of the population suffering from food insecurity in Yemen increased to about 70 percent in 2019, with an increase of 20 percentage points compared to the results of the interim classification analysis in 2016.

The economic paper held the aggression coalition countries and the United Nations responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe that threatens the Yemeni people.