Crimes against Humanity in Yemen: U.S. and Saudis Causing Hundreds of Thousands of Children to Starve to Death
The United States is a major backer and supporter of the Saudi-led war against Yemen. The U.S. supplies the weapons, and provides most of the targeting and military tactics. See this, this, this, this, this and this. (And see this for background on the Yemen war.)
The Saudi and American military are committing war crimes left and right …
For example, a report from the United Nations Children’s Fund notes:
Attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of humanitarian assistance to children continue to occur. The UN verified 51 attacks on education facilities, including schools and personnel.
Human Rights Watch reports:
“Even after dozens of airstrikes on markets, schools, hospitals, and residential neighborhoods have killed hundreds of Yemeni civilians, the coalition refuses to provide redress or change its practices,” [Human Rights Watch] said. “The US and others should pull the plug on arms to the Saudis or further share responsibility for civilian lives lost.”
Indeed, in a single attack last month, almost 100 civilians were killed:
The March 15 attack targeted a crowded market in the village of Mastaba in northwestern Yemen, killing at least 97 civilians, including 25 children. HRW said it found remnants of a “GBU-31 satellite-guided bomb, which consists of a U.S.-supplied MK-84 2,000-pound bomb mated with a JDAM satellite guidance kit, also U.S.-supplied.”
Even worse, hundreds of thousands of kids are starving to death.
The UNICEF report notes that – due to the actions of the U.S. and Saudis – Yemen is experiencing mass starvation on a scale last seen in Ethiopa:
Over 320,000 [children] are at risk of severe acute malnutrition ….
But the real numbers may be much worse. For example, Oxfam wrote last year:
Since the start of the conflict, nearly 25,000 additional people are going hungry each day in Yemen as the blockade and fighting restrict food, fuel and other vital supplies, Oxfam warned today.
One in two people – nearly 13 million people – are now struggling to find enough to eat, and half of them are on the brink of starvation. This is an increase of 2.3 million people since the escalation in fighting and beginning of the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition in March 2015. In a country that has historically faced food shortages, this is the highest ever recorded number of people living in hunger.
***
Over a three month period from March 26 (the beginning of the airstrikes and the blockade) – June 26, 2015, the number of people with limited access to food increased by a staggering 2.3 million people from 10.6 to 12.9; the equivalent of nearly 25,000 extra people a day.
The pictures are absolutely horrific.
