UN call to end Yemen blockade
Three UN agencies have called for the end of the blockade of Yemen
Three UN agencies (the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the World Food Programme) have called on the Saudi-led coalition to end the blockade on Yemen that has stopped vital humanitarian supplies from entering the country.
The agencies warn that more than twenty million people, including over eleven million children, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and at least 14.8 million are without basic healthcare. An outbreak of cholera has resulted in more than 900,000 suspected cases. Yemen is facing the world’s worst famine in decades.
Despite the humanitarian crisis, the UK government has continued to arm and support the Saudi regime. Since the ongoing bombardment began in 2015, the UK has licensed £4.6 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) are one of the organisations supporting the call by the three UN agencies. Andrew Smith, of CAAT, said: ‘A terrible humanitarian catastrophe has been inflicted on the people of Yemen, and the immoral blockade is making it even worse. Food and medical equipment is not reaching those who need it, putting millions of lives at risk.
‘Despite this, and despite the atrocities its forces have inflicted on Yemen over the last two-and a-half years, the Saudi regime has been given uncritical political and military support by Downing Street. It’s time for Theresa May and her colleagues to finally take a stand by… calling for the blockade to be lifted and ending the arms sales which have fuelled this awful war.’
