humanitarian crisis

humanitarian crisis

A humanitarian crisis refers to the immense occurrence of a life-threatening event. It is, in other words, an event that disturbs the harmonious and peaceful existence and continuity of human beings. For events to qualify the reference of a crisis, they must be life-threatening in terms of health, disturb the peace of the people, cause harm, and even death to a large population (Guidero & Hallward, 2018). Yemen is an Islamic state in the middle east and the second-largest Arab sovereign state. For the longest time in history, the country has been in conflict with the Islamic militant group called Al Qaeda, and in 2015 the country declared war on the group. This essay paper describes the various events surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Yemen while bringing into perspective how the events destroyed human life and the impacts of the crisis on the country’s economy.

Yemen is one of the greatest calamities in human history in the world. The crisis has been compounded by the political instability of the nation and the constant civil wars that have been eminent in the country. The country’s living conditions are way back worse and disastrous to human life with severe environmental conditions. If the latest United Nations statistics are anything to go with, it is said that about half of the country’s population have been forced to flee the nation due to ever-growing violence with its remaining population in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost all the country’s population is in dire need of food and clean water.

The country severely suffers from a significant outbreak of diseases, with cholera being the main health hazard. The diseases have claimed lots of lives and continues to be a threat to the health of the people (Clements, 2011). The living conditions in the country continue to worsen each day, with the remaining population going through great starvation and hunger (Lackner, 2019). Accessing basic health care facilities is another severe problem, and due to the inaccessibility of proper health facilities, the county’s population is ailing and in dire need of humanitarian assistance. It is indeed evident that the country is amidst a great struggle with its military group unable to control the situation even as the civil wars escalate each moment.

The country’s crisis has been caused by several factors that have not been resolved yet. One of the greatest causes has been the political instability brought about by the severe environmental conditions (Guidero & Hallward, 2018). Access to water, not even clean water in Yemen, has been a detrimental problem, with almost half of the population unable to access the water. The country mainly relies on the ground source of water, which includes wells and boreholes but still unable to meet the population’s need for water. Most of the conflicts in Yemen are said to be caused by the water crisis.

Food insecurity has also been another pertinent problem in the country. The county’s poor agricultural practices are unable to produce enough food for the population (Clements, 2011). The poor agricultural practices which consume higher percentages of the water have compounded the water problem. Worse still is that even with the high percentages of water, farming practices cannot sustain the food requirements of the people.

There is also the problem of poverty; in fact, Yemen is one of the Arab world’s poorest nations. The poverty levels stirred political unrest and conflict, intending to enhance political change and restore stability, which, however, has not been achieved (Lackner, 2019). The long struggles to remove power from the long-serving authoritarian Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh and pass it to his vice president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. After a successive overthrow of Ali Abdullah, the deputy president faced great opposition from Ali’s loyalists, and other social issues with further continued to cause unrest. As the new president, Mansour Hadi had to fight such problems as corruption, poverty, unemployment, and the water and food insecurity, among others. However, the earlier rebellious militia groups managed to capitalize on the weaknesses of the new president and took control of some parts of the nation.As the years of tension continued the rebellious groups, for instance, the Houthi movement and the general people’s congress led by Saleh the former president continued to be more stronger and with the support of the Ali Abdullah Saleh they overpowered the then president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi who was later in 2015 forced to go to exile.

Intending to restore political stability and bring back power to president Hadi, countries like Saudi Arabia, America, and Iran, among others, have united to fight the insurgent groups and cease the political tension in the country. Frequent and unpredictable attacks and missiles aimed at residential and public places have caused massive deaths and injuries all over the nation with the old, women, and children suffering most (Sharp, 2019). Saudi Arabia, for instance, launched a three-month ground and air campaign aimed at supporting Yemen’s government operations. The government of Saudi Arabia sent its troops into the borders on the southern province to attack the Houthi infiltration of the country’s territory (Clements, 2011). Continued unrest and persistent air campaigns and attacks have further led to more civilian deaths as the confrontations between the two warring parties get uglier each day; more Yemen lives are lost.

With the increased attacks on homesteads, social places like hospitals, schools, and prisons, among others, more innocent lives have been lost. Accessibility to the few remaining health facilities has been another challenge, and people cannot get health services (MacQueen, 2011). The inaccessibility of health services compounded by the scarcity of water has exacerbated the Yemen sanitation dilemma. Due to lack of water, the country has had a deadly outbreak of cholera, which has also claimed thousands of lives.

Due to inadequate food supply and water, the country’s population has also developed other health issues, with most children being malnourished. More deaths have been caused by diseases that would be preventable and managed were the health facilities operational. The country’s malnutritional levels continue to escalate with the ever-growing shortage of food. More than half of the population in Yemen is facing hunger, with the percentage estimated to even get bigger with the unresolved political issues and civil wars. The conflicts between the warring forces and the destruction of market places and the continued attacks aimed at these social places hinder the people’s ability to access the foods (MacQueen, 2011). Also given that the country’s agriculture does not provide enough food for its population, the country has been forced to depend mostly on food imports from other nations, however the with the continued wars and terrorism acts, that have resulted to blockage of entry into the country Yemen’s hunger levels are likely to escalate even more with the restrictions. The inaccessibility of food threatens the lives of the people and is even more likely to cause more deaths.

The humanitarian activities have been affected by the United nations suspending its aid on relief food due to worsening security conditions in the country (Clements, 2011). The Houthi movement has, in the recent past, increased its attacks and even extended some of its criminal activities into Saudi Arabia (Sharp, 2019). The movement has made the country inaccessible to the humanitarian groups by blocking access to the needy areas and even interfering with the food distribution process. The actions affected the ability of the groups to supply the relief foods to the country. Lack of relief food exposed the country to more hunger. With the likelihood that the situation may persist for more extended periods due to the failure of the conflicting parties to strike peaceful agreements, the situation is more likely to worsen and bring about more deaths. The inefficiency of the humanitarian activities has, however, been criticized by various groups, which term the suspension on some of the activities as inconsiderate and unwarranted.

The destruction of the Yemen economy also characterizes the Yemen humanitarian crisis. The wars have brought about massive losses of wealth and property. Saudi Arabi, America, the U.K, and their other allies have been waging war on the Yemen borders for close to four years. Armed with the best warships and powerful fighter jets, the countries have devised war tactics and strategies aimed at reducing the possible deaths of its troops. The deaths have, however, been transferred to the civilians (Guidero & Hallward, 2018). The attacks also aimed at the social amenities, and homes have been observed to create great loses and worsened the already worse economy of the nation. Given that the country is already weak and struggling with poverty levels, any destruction on its property takes it a step back in terms of economic development. The target attacks and blocking of the borders, the airstrips, and Yemen port, which is a source of livelihood to many of the Yemen people results in more harm to the people and the economy of the country at large.

Frequent bombing and missile and on-air attacks have also led to massive loss of lives. The attacks from both from the government supporting group and the Houthi movement have caused high deaths of both the Yemeni forces and civilians (MacQueen, 2011). The latest reports, for instance, implicate the Saudi led coalition for the bombing of a school bus that had school-going children (Clements, 2011). The bombing claimed the lives of about fifty minors and adults. The unending struggles have also raised the children’s mortality rates of the country. The frequent bombing of the towns and demonstrations in Yemen have led to increased civil crimes and created loopholes for lawlessness. Women and children have found themselves in the mix, with most of them being raped and killed coldly only for the militia groups to claim responsibility. The crimes have sent fear to the people and disoriented their abilities, thus weakening and oppressing innocent citizens. With the increased attacks and conflicts, the more militia groups are likely to take advantage of the situation and cause more destruction and loss of lives.

The civil wars have also led to a massive displacement of people, with most of its people fleeing to other neighboring countries (MacQueen, 2011). Most of the Yemen people have taken refuge in other countries like Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Oman, among others. Yemen form the second-largest refugee populations in Somalia. Some of the people have also been internally displaced some to the Efforts create a unity government between deputy president and the Houthis have however failed as the two parties failed to agree on the sharing of power positions (Guidero & Hallward, 2018). The choice of Hadi, which would allow him to become prime minister and at the same time be in charge oil in the country, did not go well with the Houthis, who instead chose their member to take the positions. The disagreements brought about much tension and more struggles leading to Saleh and the leaders of the other group being sanctioned by the united nations security council.

The mass destruction of wealth and low wages have also compounded the problem of the health of the people. With low incomes and high poverty levels, people cannot afford to go for treatment in private hospitals (Sharp, 2019). Worse is the fact that most of the hospitals have been destroyed, thus leaving the citizens with fewer choices. Even with fewer options, treatment services are inadequate since the hospitals do not have adequate medicines to prescribe to the patients. Lack of medicine and vaccinations have rendered the country unable to control even the controllable diseases. With its inability to cure and sustain the health of its citizens, thousands of people have been infected by such diseases as cholera while others have died, most of them being the children (Guidero & Hallward, 2018). Although the country has never had the best health centers and practices, the struggles have reduced the little efforts and advancements made to nothing with the conditions likely to get even worse with the continued political conflicts.

With the destruction of the economy, the country’s GDP has significantly reduced. With most of its population being jobless, the poor economy impacts considerably on the ordinary citizens who cannot afford even the most basic needs like good health and food. Even worse is the destruction of the Yemen farms by the Saudi led militants in a move to suppress the Houthi and using starvation as a weapon of war (Sharp, 2019). Worse still is the use of the suffering of the people as a weapon of war, with crude methods of war, for example, starvation the innocent citizens are likely to endure more suffering and course more deaths.

Generally, The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, which has been characterized by the massive loss of lives, hunger, and starvation, the ever-growing outbreak of cholera, and the political conflicts among other calamities qualify the Yemen crisis as one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world. If urgent measures to bring back peace and political stability to the country are not taken, more social and economic evils are most likely to collapse the nation bring about millions of losses of lives.