News - Yemen: 61.4 percent of the population in Yemen suffers from acute food insecurity and is now classified in the fifth stage, the famine stage, the Ministry of Human Rights said during a press conference on Wednesday on the human rights situation during 2022 .

The Ministry pointed out that the countries involved in aggression against Yemen seized more than 95 percent of the ships loaded with commercial materials, food and fuel last year. It confirmed that the blockade prevented the entry of more than 750 items of medicines and medical supplies.

Regarding the military aggression against Yemen, the Ministry of Human Rights stated that the prohibited weapons used in the aggression against Yemen rose to 256,000 bombs and missiles during the years of aggression. It indicated that the number of drone strikes during 2022 amounted to 2,702.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and its other regional allies, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015. The kingdom also imposed a blockade on the war-hit country in the same year.

The eight years of war have killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. The US and other Western countries have been providing Saudi Arabia and its allies with arms and logistics support.

Not only has the Saudi-led coalition failed to meet its objectives by launching the brutal war, but also killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and resulted in what the UN calls the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis.”

The naval blockade imposed on Yemen by the US-Saudi aggression has substantially contributed to pushing Yemeni civilians into starvation and can be considered torture, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said in a report published last year. 

The report demonstrates that the stringent controls imposed on the maritime imports to the fre zones, north of the country, which hosts 70% of Yemen’s population of 30 million, plays a crucial role in this devastation. Yemen imports 90% of its needs – food, fuel, and medicines.

“The Coalition’s searches have not led to any discovery of weapons“, said Hélène Legeay, legal director at OMCT’s Middle East and North Africa office. “Instead, restrictions on fuel imports, in particular, keep having a knock-on effect on the provision of food, drinking water, and healthcare.”

The report argues that countries involved in aggression, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, could be held responsible, leading to international criminal liability for their agents. The same goes for their accomplices, States and private companies that supply arms and thus play a crucial role in compounding the situation. 

The report calls for an end to the blockade, international scrutiny of these crimes, the punishment of perpetrators, and collective reparations to the Yemeni people.

In December 2020, the United Nations recorded 131,000 deaths due to a lack of food, health services, and clean water. In July 2022, the World Food Programme estimated that almost one Yemeni out of three – 19 million people – were food insecure, with 3.5 million acutely malnourished.