Save the Children Calls for Yemen Ceasefire
Local Editor
The war, which has consumed Yemen since 2015, claimed the lives of over 10,000, and brought the country to the brink of destruction. Around 18 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance on a daily basis - and a representative of Save the Children told Sputnik it's mainly women and children bearing the brunt.
Mark Kaye, Save The Children's humanitarian advocacy adviser for Yemen, told Sputnik that the scale of the crisis was "absolutely unparalleled" and suggested the UK and US governments were failing to prevent violations of Yemeni rights, with hundreds of thousands of minors across Yemen acutely malnourished and facing extreme deprivation on a daily basis.
According to United Nations estimates, over three million women and children suffer from malnutrition, of which 400,000 are children under the age of five.
"People across the country are affected. The country's situation represents the world's largest humanitarian emergency at the moment."
"Children face starvation, and entire systems and structures are being wiped out. When I visited the country in November 2015, I visited a school that had been caught by an airstrike two days prior - the attack killed a teacher and several students, and blood was still drying in pools in the playground. The conflict started that year - things have not improved since I left," Kaye added.
Kaye urged the US and UK, as well as all other states with leverage or sway over the coalition, to say enough is enough, and try to end the conflict via overt means, such as "public condemnation, suspended arms sales and diplomacy".
Despite the highly bleak diagnosis of the situation in Yemen he offered, Kaye praised the work of international humanitarian organizations in the region, which are "absolutely crucial" at present. These agencies are filling the gaps left by the disintegrating state structure in Yemen, to ensure women and children receive basic services.
Source: Sputnik, Edited by website team
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