News that the terrorist group (widely known as the Houthis) kidnapped another 20 United Nations employees in Yemen last week wasn’t just horrific for the individuals being held against their will – it was devastating for millions of hungry Yemeni civilians, according to an analysis published by Alana Schetzer, an Australian writer and analyst
In February, Schetzer added, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) began suspending the delivery of essential humanitarian aid – including food, water and medical supplies – to areas under Houthi control.
The reason for the WFP’s decision is unfortunate but understandable: the Iran-backed Houthis had already kidnapped 40 UN workers (who remain in arbitrary detention), plus one staffer who passed away whilst in detention in February. The Houthis had also raided UN premises, and routinely seized UN property, including cars, furniture, and documents.
At the time of publication, it has been at least nine months since vital humanitarian aid was last delivered to the overwhelming majority of Yemen’s civilians.
The Houthis’ latest abduction of UN staffers on October 19, when Houthi terrorists raided a UN facility in Sanaa, occurred just one month after the European Union made an appeal for “all parties to the conflict” to end all impediments to aid being delivered.
This latest development all but guarantees the UN’s ban on aid to Houthi-controlled areas will continue indefinitely.
This is despite the fact that on Oct. 21, two days after the latest kidnapping, five of the detained UN employees were released, and the other 15 were said to be “free to move” and contact their families and colleagues.
Sadly, it is the Yemeni people who bear the cost of this decision. While UN staff cannot be faulted for not wanting to work in areas where their safety is constantly hostage to Houthi extremism and demands, and the UN is right to want to put pressure on the Houthis to release its employees.
The consequence is that more than 10 million civilians will continue to go without vital access to food, water, and medical supplies for the foreseeable future.
It is notable that the global community, including world leaders, the media, human rights activists and humanitarian groups, has been almost completely silent about the UN’s decision and its impact on the Yemeni people.
There has been no global outrage, outcry or demand that the UN reverse its decision.
There have certainly been no demonstrations on the streets of Western cities denouncing the deprivation of Yemenis.
The very real impact on the Yemeni people is seemingly of no interest or concern to the world.
In 2019 to 2020 Yemen was labelled the world’s worst humanitarian disaster not just because of the relentless war, but also because of multiple cholera, polio and dengue fever outbreaks since 2016, as well as the occurrence of natural disasters, such as multiple floods and cyclones, resulting in thousands of deaths.
The UN paused aid to northern Yemen in 2023, which it admitted contributed to the worsening food situation – a rarity in UN documents and speeches.
“The food security situation in Yemen continued to deteriorate in January,” with 55% of households in southern Yemen and 51% in northern Yemen reporting inadequate food, the UN stated.
“The proportion of households in northern Yemen unable to meet minimum acceptable food consumption has now reached the highest recorded level in the past 16 months. This is largely associated with the ongoing pause in WFP food assistance in northern Yemen.”
Of the country’s estimated 40 million population, approximately 4.5 million are internally displaced; more than half the population, or 18.2 million people, need humanitarian aid; 5.1 million suffer from acute food insecurity; and 3.5 million people are suffering from acute malnutrition.
The Houthis’ latest round of kidnappings, which they justified by claiming the UN workers were spies, is part of the terrorist group’s increasingly brazen actions that the UN recently warned could “trigger a return to full-scale conflict.”
On Sept. 15, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, updated the UN Security Council. He not only made no mention of the fact that the UN had suspended aid nine months ago, but failed to speak up about the consequences of that suspension. He didn’t mention the humanitarian situation the Yemeni people continue to face at all.
There was no word of when aid might resume, and no glimmer of hope for the tens of millions who have gone without adequate food and other supplies for so long.
This is the UN not only being hypocritical but deceptive.