Oxfam welcomes the announcement by the Saudi Arabian led Coalition that Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen has ended, but warns that the work to bring aid to millions of Yemenis is still only beginning.
Ongoing airstrikes, ground fighting and fuel shortages mean that an additional 3 million Yemenis are now without drinking water – raising the total number of Yemenis without a clean water supply and sanitation to at least 16 million – almost two-thirds of the population.
With a recent upsurge in fighting in Yemen, the forthcoming rainy season and tightening of borders due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, there’s no end in sight to the daily toll of death, disease and displacement five years after the conflict escalated, Oxfam warned today.
Six months ago UN Secretary General called in March for a global ceasefire tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are now sleepwalking towards a seventh year of war, and the people of Yemen can only surmise that the world has forgotten them.
Reacting to the outcome of the pledging conference for Yemen, Jose Maria Vera, Oxfam International’s Executive Director, said: "Donors’ pledges to Yemen are failing to keep up with the growing need in the country".
In an open letter sent today, Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Action Contre La Faim and seven other agencies urge the UN Security Council to press parties in the Yemen conflict to implement an immediate ceasefire and kick-start the peace process.
In response to reports that the UN has reviewed the participants of Yemen's conflict blacklisted in last week's UN report on Children and Conflict, Oxfam said: "It appears that political power and diplomatic clout have been allowed to trump the UN's duty to expose those responsible for the killing and maiming of more than a thousand of Yemen's children."
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.