Jefferson College Yemen Conflict and the Humanitarian Crisis Paper Revisiting the Yemen Conflict and the Humanitarian CrisisPlease continue working on the

Jefferson College Yemen Conflict and the Humanitarian Crisis Paper Revisiting the Yemen Conflict and the Humanitarian CrisisPlease continue working on the same paper and make some editing if needed and add 4 more pages please Please see the attachment Running head: YEMEN CONFLICT AND HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Yemen Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis
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YEMEN CONFLICT AND HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
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Yemen Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis
Introduction
Since the end of World War, humanitarian crisis have flourished making life situations to
be very threatening. The immediate impact of these humanitarian crises is that they disrupt the
standard conditions of living as people have to seek asylum in other neighboring countries
(Lopour, 2016). The statistics released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
claim that approximately sixty million people have become refugees due to the outbreak of the
humanitarian crisis. Following a series of humanitarian conflicts around the world, the UN
Refugee Agency has noted that the issue is only going to increase with the number of asylum
seekers that seems to grow in comparison with the past decade. While much attention has been
given to the situation of the Syrian refugee crisis, the humanitarian agencies have forgotten to
accord similar attention to the ongoing Yemen conflict that has similar effects to the Syrian
crisis. Indeed, the Yemen conflict and humanitarian crisis are said to be one of the crises that are
in much need of emergency humanitarian aid (UNOCHA Global Humanitarian Overview, 2016).
Ideally, according to UNOCHA (2016), The Yemen conflict and humanitarian crisis have left an
approximate 21.2 million in a desperate situation, which accounts for about 82% of the
population in need of humanitarian assistance (Lopour, 2016). As such, given the fact that the
condition is going to deteriorate, this paper seeks to understand the need for humanitarian
emergency needs in Yemen through the lens of Yemen conflict. The rationale for choosing this
topic emanates from the fact that the situation in Yemen is leading to other disastrous events
such as famine and deaths worsening the condition within the country.
Background of the Yemen Crisis
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The Yemen conflict and humanitarian crisis are some of the most traumatizing events to
have occurred in the country. Ideally, the crisis has made many lives horrible, as well as
devastating many aspects of economic and social living to be compromised. According to Sharp
(2019), various militant groups and armed conflicts have contributed significantly to the current
problems that are experienced within the country. The fact that Yemen never had a uniform
leadership in the 1990s led to the initiation of boundary conflicts with other states calling for the
attention of international bodies and countries to intervene to resolve the disputes. The Yemen
conflict, which has now lasted for over five years, has been observed to politically driven
between the Houthis and the Ansar Allah sides (Sharp, 2019). The Yemen conflict started in
2014 when a group of Houthi armed forces invaded the Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen, and
continued with the invasion to the South towards Aden in 2015. After Hadi, the president of
Yemen, had flown to Saudi Arabia to seek the intervention; this resulted in the formation of a
military force to counteract the Houthi regime. However, despite the attempts to combat the
crisis from worsening, this seems not to end any time soon.
As it stands, the Yemen crisis has seen a large number of people dying as well as
destroying the infrastructure of the country. Due to the nature of war, the total estimate of the
number of people killed in the battle beyond 90,000 (Sharp, 2019). Attempts from the United
Nations to intervene in the war has somewhat been in vain as the different groups have neglected
diplomatic relations that would lead to a comprehensive conflict resolution. The establishment of
the Stockholm Agreement implemented by Martin Griffiths to cease crisis on the port of Red Sea
city was only active for a few months after which its effectiveness was distracted by the
intensification of conflicts on other fronts. Media coverage on the Yemen crisis has mainly paid
attention to the coalition between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and forgetting the significant power
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of counter alliances from the rivals. Eventually, this has led to intense open warfare in the
summer of 2019 between the Republic of Yemen Government and the Southern Transitional
Council. The allies of both sides have played a major role in catalyzing the ongoing conflict and
humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen
One of the reasons why the Yemen conflict is a humanitarian issue that comes from
several rationales. First, the United Nations characterizes the Yemen crisis as the worst to have
ever happened in the history of humanity, with about 30 million civilians, which is close to 80%
of the entire population needing some aid. Besides, the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) identifies that a figure exceeding 20 million
people are suffering from food insecurity as another 7.4 million people are anticipated to suffer
from famine (Sharp, 2019). Ideally, famine is likely an economic impact of the war as people
devout their time and energy in the war, thereby having no time to carry on with the agricultural
activities. Besides, even if farmers may not be part of the war, they cannot go on with farming
activities in a state where peace does not prevail. In light of this, the only way to restore
normalcy to the Yemenis is through providing humanitarian assistance to the victims of the
crisis. In fact, the United Nations, in conjunction with Switzerland and Sweden’s governments,
recently held a conference in Geneva to pledge how they can commit themselves in resolving the
ongoing conflict in Yemen. In this conference, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, each pledged 750 million dollars (Sharp, 2019). Another 4.2 billion dollars is
expected to be raised from the donors by the end of 2019, some of which has been contributed
through the channel of the United Nations.
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In the same vein of responding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the United Nations
Security Council resolution order for the withdrawal from arms sale to the Houthis as well as
allowing for the inspection of goods purported to contain firearms to be transported to the
fighters of Houthi. As of much 2015, there was a blockade on aerial and naval entry to Yemen as
well as ships courtesy of the Saudi-led coalition. The restrictions on shipment, aeronautical, and
maritime entry to Yemen led to increased costs of shipping products and also led to delay at the
off-loading sites. For a country that heavily relies on imported products such as food, the
situation in Yemen only exacerbates the humanitarian conditions as a result of the ongoing
conflict (Sharp, 2019). Remarkably, the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism
were formed with the aim of inspecting any cargo entering Yemen. Besides inspection, the
UNVIM is also mandated with the responsibility of facilitating humanitarian aid to Yemen in a
timely manner.
Yemen’s complex history of conflict and instability
Ideally, the history of conflict and instability in Yemen is deeply rooted in politics,
violence, and poverty. At one point in its history, Yemen existed as two entities, North and South
Yemen. The two states had histories of conflicts and wars at different times. For instance, North
Yemen once had a coup that lasted for eight years since 1962 involving Russia, the Soviet
Union, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, and Egypt as well as Jordan. Similarly, South Yemen
had a very bad experience in the civil war of 1986 that led to the loss of many people and
distracted the economy to a large extent (Sharp, 2019). Soon after gaining independence in 1967
from the British, South and North Yemen engaged in violent conflicts in 1972 and 1979 but later
joined in 1990 under the leadership of North Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Following
a discontentment from the South Yemenis on the unification of the North and South Yemen, civil
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war emerged in 1994 between the two states. Until the emergence of the Arab Spring in 2012,
Saleh had dominated most aspects of the Yemenis, including but not limited to political, tribal,
military, and religious power centers.
Impacts of the Yemen Crisis
Food insecurity
One of the most feared has implications of the Yemen conflict that need urgent
intervention from the humanitarian agencies is the insecurity of food. Ideally, in the middle of
the Yemen conflict, the rate of food insecurity has heightened to new and threatening levels.
Eventually, this has contributed to other significant and detrimental consequences, such as
distorting the source of livelihoods like employment, which in turn affects their income levels.
Consequently, the ability to provide for their families is greatly reduced. In principle, the Yemen
crisis has made the prices of the available food to increase by 60% in 2018 (OCHA, 2018).
Statistically, the cost increase in the prices of food is about 150% higher than the food costs in
the pre-conflict period. Additionally, other than food price increments, the prices of fuel had
risen by 200% by 2018 as compared in the pre-war era. Ideally, this has affected other areas,
such as the supply of water, electricity, agriculture, sanitation, and health services. The escalation
of the Yemen conflict has alarmingly affected the security of food since 2015, rendering a high
proportion of the Yemenis to be vulnerable to nutritional diseases and, at worst, death. About 20
million people in Yemen are said to be affected by food insecurity, where famine conditions
constrain about 9.6 million.
Health, sanitation, and water are compromised
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The intensity of the conflict in Yemen has resulted in more than 55% of the population in
need of humanitarian aid in terms of better hygiene, sanitation, and water. Increased prices of
commodities that have proliferated amidst the ongoing conflict have meant that the purchasing
ability of the citizens is low. Consequently, this has made accessibility to basic human needs
very hard. Lack of safe water for drinking increases the risk of contracting cholera. In Yemen, a
large number of people amounting to about 19.7 million are in the mere need for humanitarian
health aid. Evaluations done in Yemen reveal that poor economic conditions, displacement, and
poor accessibility to the facilities of healthcare necessitate the intervention by the intervention of
humanitarian organizations. Substantially, failure to respond to the urgent need of the victims of
the Yemen conflict will escalate the present conditions of the humanitarian crisis in the months
and years to come. In the ongoing conflict, most of the healthcare institutions are partially
functioning as others are completely non-functional due to the shortage of healthcare
professionals, inadequate supplies, and failure to meet the costs of operation. The available
medical staff is specialized in particular activities in the tertiary and district hospitals. Besides,
failure to pay salaries promptly to the nursing practitioners only demoralizes them, making them
start rioting and leading to the ineffectiveness of the hospitals.
Response to malnutrition
Malnutrition is another concern that has been brought about by the adverse effects of the
Yemen conflict. Approximately, the war has left more than 7.4 million people needing
humanitarian aid for treating the effects of malnutrition. Out of the 7.4 million, 4.4 million are in
extreme need of humanitarian need, with 3.2 million of this 4.4 million in critical need of
humanitarian intervention. Children below the age of 5 years, pregnant or lactating mothers,
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account for 2 million and 1.14 million, respectively. In 2019, the number of child victims below
five years is only going to rise beyond 2 million as well as the number of lactating women.
Displacement
Displacement is another paramount humanitarian concern that needs to be addressed
urgently with the ongoing crisis in Yemen. Primarily, this is based on the enormous amount of
people who have been left without homes in Yemen. Most of these people have become
internally displaced while large others are externally displaced. Some of these people are trying
to retrieve backward to their original homes, thereby leading to the need for humanitarian aid to
help them resettle and assure security to them. In principle, the majority of these people have fled
Yemen in the pursuit of peaceful areas where security and safety are guaranteed. Nearly, 3.3
people are internally displaced and return to their backyards is devastating as they have found
most of their homes demolished, and hopes for life continuity are decimated. As a result,
emergency humanitarian aid is a critical service that needs to be accorded to the victims of the
ongoing Yemen crisis.
Political factors influencing the Yemen conflict
Since the unification of Yemen from its constituent states (North and South Yemen), the
people from South Yemen still have not yet been contented with this ideology. Most of them
have been feeling like they are treated as second-class citizens by the North Yemen leadership.
The people originally from South Yemen have developed an attitude of neglect, especially in
contributing towards the political and economic progress in their country (Dunnin, 2018).
Eventually, this led to the short and brief civil war between the North and South Yemen, which
was barely won by North Yemen. The leaders who were leading the southern front were sent to
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exile, and the redistribution of wealth in South Yemen. Besides, the triumph of North Yemen
against the South also led to the coerced retirement of some Southern soldiers from the military
service (Moyer et al., 2019). The agitated soldiers spearheaded new protests in the South, leading
to the formation of the separatist Southern Movement. After a series of uprisings, the Gulf
Cooperation Council was established to find a solution to the ongoing political issues in Yemen.
Essentially, this led to the holding of the National Dialogue Conference that brought together
various delegates from all sides. Nevertheless, the people of South Yemen were discontented
with the deliberations of the conference, arguing that their representatives did not represent well
the demands of an uprising youth movement. In resolving this issue, the committee that was
appointed in the conference agreed to split Yemen into regions of six federal governments, in
which, four of them would come from North Yemen and two from South Yemen. However, this
was immediately rejected by the Houthis and leaders from the South. The rise of the political
influence of the Houthis has led to the continuity of the Yemen Conflict.
The challenging of Saleh’s rule in North Yemen has also led to the intensity of the
Yemen crisis. Ideally, a group of youths have formed what is known as the Believing Youth
Movement to challenge the leadership of Saleh purporting that his government is not bringing
the desired level of development within the region (Moyer et al., 2019). Besides, the youth group
is also seeing the coalition of Yemen with the United States as a threat to thwart the political
autonomy in the region. According to Sharp (2019), the coalition of Yemen with the United
States is seen as a deprivation of the economy for its control over operations around the ports. As
a result of various confrontations with the youths, President Saleh ordered for the capturing of
the leaders of the movement to instill fear amongst the followers. On the contrary, this ignited a
series of more protests leading to a serious conflict lasting for six years. Notably, this has led to
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intense fear amongst the conflicting groups, while a dozen others have been killed in the process,
necessitating the need for humanitarian intervention.
Furthermore, Yemenis living in the Diaspora have also contributed to the disastrous
condition in Yemen. Ideally, the Yemenis Diaspora are divided along political lines, which
makes any effort to send humanitarian aid to their suffering friends, families, and relatives
difficult. The political divisions amongst the Yemenis living abroad make it hard for them to
decide who has the mandate of mobilizing people to support people in crisis back in their
country. There is also fear amongst the Yemenis living in the United States of America that
remittance may be taken as support for terrorist activities especially at the verge of Muslim ban
within the United States (Aboueldalab, 2019). Deprivation of rights amongst the minority groups
has also weakened the support of Yemenis living abroad to their country. As such, this cripples
down their willingness and capabilities of sending humanitarian assistance to fellow Yemenis in
their country. Repression withdrawal symptoms negatively affect the willingness of the Yemenis
Diaspora from sending humanitarian aid to their country. Ideally, threats and surveillance of
some Yemenis nationals make them uncomfortable in deliberating any important political
activity or humanitarian assistance to the country.
The Capacity of Yemen Crisis
The Yemen crisis remains the worst in the world’s history. The conflict started four years
ago and has significantly affected the country by driving it to the famine, economic decline, and
exacerbating needs (OCHA, 2018). The crisis has affected 80 percent of the country’s
population, about 24 million people that demand humanitarian assistance while 14.3 million of
these people are in acute need (OCHA, 2018). The number of individuals in critical need has
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increased by 27 percent from 2018. These statistics reflect an increase in number of people
needing acute care by 1 million from June 2017 (OCHA, 2018). The devastation condition at the
country has continued spreading as two-thirds of Yemen’s districts are in pre-famine conditions,
while one-third of the country is facing a merging of several acute vulnerabilities (OCHA, 2018).
These statistics show that there is an urgent need for humanitarian support to sustain the lives of
majority of Yemen.
The impact of this human-made disaster has severely impacted the lives of Yemen’s
citizens. As per now, over 20 million individuals are facing food insecurity while about 7.4
million persons are uncertain about their next meal, which risks them from starvation (OCHA,
2018). These figures show a 24 percent increase of the 2017 statistics; thus showing that the
adverse effects of this conflict are still increasing. Approximately 4.3 million individuals have
escaped their households since the onset of the war (OCHA, 2018). This population includes 3.3
million persons displaced after the war and 1 million returnees. These returnees are living in
harsh and challenging conditions with limited access to proper shelter, water, healthcare, and
food (OCHA, 2018). The war has as well affected the functionality of the public services within
the country. As a result, only 51 percent of the health care facilities are functioning, while
equipment and medicine are limited. The resultant impact is lack of safe water that has become a
weighty challenge as well as a lack of appropriate sanitation, which has all escalated the risk of
infectious illnesses.
The effects of poor sanitation and lack of safe water have been witnessed since April
2017, where a cholera outbreak occurred in Yemen. The outbreak created an alarming spread
across the country as 21 out of 22 governorates in Yemen were affected (Sida, 2018). As a result,
cases of cholera from 27 April to 19 November 20…
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