Humanitarian Affairs Chief: Reducing Aid by WFP Exacerbates Suffering of Millions of Yemenis

On May 20, 2023

The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ibrahim Al-Hamli, confirmed Thursday that reducing food and cash aid by the World Food Program exacerbates the suffering of millions of Yemenis amid the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

In a meeting with the WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, Corinne Fleischer, Al-Hamli showed the human suffering experienced by the Yemeni people as a result of the US-Saudi aggression and blockade and their repercussions, and the systematic starvation.

He demanded work to provide relief, development and service assistance to limit the slide towards dangerous stages of the humanitarian disaster, emphasizing the need to continue supporting vital sectors directly related to the lives of citizens, and focusing on supporting the projects.

He pointed to the Council’s keenness to ensure that aid reaches those who deserve it, by providing the necessary facilities and working to alleviate the suffering of the displaced and affected people.

In turn, Corinne Fleischer confirmed the Yemeni people are going through unprecedented suffering, stressing that the human suffering can only be stopped through peaceful means, ending the aggression against Yemen.

The US-Saudi aggression imposes a suffocating blockade on Yemen and closes ports and airports to increase the suffering of the Yemeni People and create deteriorating living and economic conditions. It is trying to barter the humanitarian aspect to obtain political and military gains at the expense of the Yemeni People.

The blockade has caused tremendous suffering for millions of Yemenis who are largely dependent on imports of food, fuel and medicines. It is one of the main reasons for the large-scale humanitarian crisis in the country that has pushed millions of Yemenis toward starvation and death due to lack of medical supplies, prompting the UN to call it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

In January, a statement issued by 172 international human rights networks and organizations called for stopping the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and lifting the siege.

The international organizations’ statement expressed concern about the continued exacerbation of human suffering in light of the catastrophic escalating threat to more than 20 million Yemeni citizens of starvation.

The statement stressed that the exacerbation of human suffering in Yemen was accompanied by the interruption of salaries and the continuation of restrictions imposed on ports and airports.

“The human conscience must not ignore the suffering of the Yemeni People as a result of war, siege, hunger, disease and death,” the statement stated, noting that it is necessary to respond to the repeated humanitarian calls issued by the vital sectors in Yemen, especially the health sector.

The statement of the international organizations called on the countries involved in aggression to quickly pay the salaries of employees in all governorates, and to lift the blockade, especially on Sana’a airport and the port of Hodeidah.