The Yemeni Crisis Analysis

The Holocaust was an event during World War II in which approximately six million European Jews were killed. Based on the definition of genocide given by the United Nations, stating that it is the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group”, the Holocaust, unfortunately, fits perfectly into this category of violence and terror. However, the Holocaust isn’t the only act of genocide we have seen in our world. Take for example the Rwandan Genocide in which the Hutu government massacred up to 800,000 Tutsi people in 1994. Sadly, genocide is still happening in many third world countries to this day. One of the most prominent cases is the Yemeni Crisis. Through an inhumane blockade brought on by

In fact, it is one of the poorest Arab nations in the world. However, this situation was exacerbated by the rocky transition of powers. In 2011, the people of Yemen revolted against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. President Saleh stepped down and gave the position to his Vice President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. President Hadi struggled to be successful in his new position. Supporters of former President Saleh, most commonly called the Houthis, took advantage of President Hadi’s weaknesses. Civil war broke out in 2015. The Houthis, supporters of former President Saleh, were armed against 10 mainly Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia, who supported President Hadi. The Houthis are also said to be secretly backed by Iran while the pro-Hadi group has been receiving arms from the United States. Al Qaeda, a terrorist group founded by Osama Bin Laden, is also playing a role in the war. The country was already on the brink of starvation when Saudi Arabia placed a total blockade on Yemen in late 2017, only making matters exponentially

For example, a joint appeal calling for the retraction of the blockade was issued by leaders of the World Health Organization, the U.N. children’s agency, and the World Food Program. The blockade was eventually lifted to a certain extent, whether it be credited to the appeal or not. Other solutions have been discussed extensively by the U.N. In an interview with 60 Minutes, David Beasley, the head of the U.N. World Food Program, said, “We’re on the brink of famine. If we don’t receive the money that we need in the next few months, I would say about 125,000 little girls and boys will die. We’ve been able to avert famine, but we know three things that are happening. We know that people are dying. We know that people are wasting. And we know that children are stunting… they’re smaller, the brains are smaller, the body’s smaller because they’re not getting the food or the nutrition they need.” Beasley addresses the major issues and discusses the fact that, without money, the prevention of famine will remain at a standstill and Yemen will be engulfed by hunger. Americans need to be aware that they can help the people of Yemen and many other countries facing starvation by donating to organizations such as Save the Children, the Red Cross, UNICEF, and the Disasters Emergency Committee - Yemen Appeal. Another step towards progress would be to persuade TV media to broadcast and report on this crisis as well as