FIRE-EARTH Resolution CJ 101702 — Genocide in Yemen

IN PROGRESS…

TIA  [September 24, Confidential 10]
C&M02 [October 10, Confidential 6]
Peacock 02 [October 14, Confidential 10]

Nominated Groups:

• All Groups

Complicity In US-Saudi War Crimes

The Americans, Arabs, Britons… and all other war-enabler nations are hereby declared guilty of complicity in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as being perpetrated in Yemen…

For supplying weapons and munitions, military intelligence and mercenary forces… to the Saudi regime, or for remaining silent while their governments are committing war crimes in Yemen.

• Details of the Resolution CJ 101702 – Genocide in Yemen available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Latest FIRE-EARTH DIRECTIVES, ALERTS, FORECASTS, BULLETINS and MESSAGES are available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

 

 

Yemen Cholera Epidemic Kills 2,000, Infects 500,000

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– Arabia Report #37 –

How Saudis bought impunity and cooperation from Trump and continued to commit genocide in Yemen

Background:

Half a million suspected cholera cases in Yemen have been reported so far this year. The deadly waterborne disease has killed 2,000 people since the outbreak began to spread rapidly at the end of April.

Yemen’s cholera epidemic, the largest in the world, continues to spread rapidly due to deteriorating hygiene and sanitation conditions and disruptions to the water supply across the country. Millions of people are cut off from clean water, and waste collection has ceased in major cities, reported WHO.

Suspected cases of the disease continue to rage across the country, infecting about 5,000 people each day, with more than 15 million people are unable to get basic healthcare in the terrorized country.

[Saudi Arabia Report #37 is prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Reports Saudi Arabia 01 – 37 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

UK Equally Guilty of Saudi War Crimes in Yemen

• All Groups

– UK Report # 39 –

Brits choose to remain deafeningly silent, while war crimes are being committed in their names

Background Summary:

UK approved £283m of arms sales to Saudis after airstrike on Yemen funeral

“The British government approved £283m of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after a Saudi airstrike on a funeral that killed scores of people and was criticised [sic] by the UN, figures reveal.

“The airstrike, on 8 October 2016, hit a funeral hall in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, killing 140 people and injuring hundreds more, in one of the bloodiest attacks in the two-year Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.”

The World Health Organization has recorded 1,828 deaths from cholera since the outbreak in April, one of the largest outbreaks since records began in 1949.

Some 360,000 suspected cholera cases have been recorded in just three months since the outbreak started in April, making the outbreak  the largest ever recorded in any country in a single year since records began in 1949.

About 20 million people need humanitarian assistance across Yemen, while three and a half million have fled their homes since the outbreak of the ongoing conflict in September 2014.

The war has pushed the country to the verge of famine

“It has precipitated a crisis which has left 7 million people on the brink of starvation,” said Oxfam.

“Those countries providing the arms and military support, such as the US and the UK, are fueling a war that is causing wide-spread suffering and tipping a whole nation towards a catastrophe. It is hard to imagine how much more Yemen can take before it collapses entirely.”

“In 2016, Saudi Arabia spent nearly $3 billion on arms from the world’s major arms exporters.”

Related Links:

• UK’s Nazi Judges a Blight on Humanity
• British Institutions So Corrupt, It Takes Just A Couple of Players To Upend Them

[Review prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• UK Reports Nos. 01 – 39 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Children Account for Half of All Suspected Cholera Cases in Yemen

Yemen records 124,000 cases of cholera, half are children  –Unicef

“Children continue to bear the brunt of the war in Yemen. Many who have become ill or have died from cholera were suffering from malnutrition. At least 923 people have died from the disease since late April. Children account for one quarter of the deaths.

“The cholera outbreak is overwhelming what remains of Yemen’s conflict-battered health system.”

“With no end in sight to the conflict, the cholera outbreak – and potentially other disease will continue to stalk the lives of children.”

How Sick Must it Be to Sell Saudi War Criminals $109 Billion in Weapons

• All Groups

Saudi rulers spend $109 billion on U.S. weapons – $4,500 for every man, woman and child in Yemen

The arms agreement is a part of series of deals between the US and “Sheikh Salman” of Arabia exceeding $380bn, informed observers said.

• Reports Saudi Arabia 01 -17 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

State of Emergency Declared in Sanaa, Yemen Over Cholera Outbreak

Plagued by Saudi airstrikes and now cholera outbreak

Cholera outbreak has killed about 115 people in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in recent days, with about 8,600 suspected cases of the diastase reported, prompting officials  to declare a state of emergency.

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Yemen Report Nos. 1 – 9 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Background:

• More than 7.6 million people live in areas at high risk of cholera transmission, according to WHO.
• At least 17 million of Yemen’s 26 million population lack sufficient food and more than three million malnourished children are in “grave peril,” the U.N. has said.
• Two-thirds of the population have no access to safe drinking water.
• About 10,000 people have lost their lives, and 40,000 wounded mostly in almost daily airstrikes, conducted by Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition.

FIRE-EARTH Report – Arabia 13: Will More Weapons Help Prevent Fall of Saudi “Royals”?

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Yemen hunger crisis: Refugee chief ‘shocked to the bones’

About 19 million people in Yemen [total population:  ~ 27 million] are in need of some form of aid, says the UN, as the price of basic commodities rise by a third.

The UN secretary general has warned that Yemen is facing a “tragedy of immense proportions,” with a child under five perishing of preventable causes every 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, Saudi forces reportedly threaten to attack the port of Hodeida, the last remaining humanitarian lifeline, as Trump works to “push through contracts for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia.”

“I am shocked to my bones by what I have seen and heard here in war- and hunger- stricken Yemen. The world is letting some 7 million men, women and children slowly but surely, be engulfed by unprecedented famine. It is not a drought that is at fault. This preventable catastrophe is man-made from A to Z,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

[Saudi Arabia Report #13 is prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Arabia Reports 01 – 13 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Background:

Saudi Arabia using terror laws to suppress free speech: UN
“Saudi Arabia has been accused of using anti-terror laws to suppress free expression and failing to carry out independent inquiries into its Yemen bombing campaign in a hard-hitting report published on Thursday by the UN special rapporteur on human rights.”

Saudi Arabia, U.S. in talks on billions in arms sales – U.S. sources
“Washington is working to push through contracts for tens of billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, some new, others in the pipeline, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to the kingdom this month,” informed sources told Reuters.

UN Must List Saudi-Led Coalition for Violating Child Rights in Yemen –Report

For Immediate Release:

***To view report: http://watchlist.org/about/report/yemen/
***Link to live press conference April 20 , 2017, 10:00am EST: http://www.un.org/webcast/

Warring parties committed 160+ attacks on medical facilities and personnel over past two years 

The UN should put Saudi Arabia back on a list of violators of children’s rights because of attacks on hospitals in Yemen.

• Warring parties committed at least 160 attacks on medical facilities and personnel over past two years, including deadly airstrike on children’s hospital.

• Attacks have contributed to closure of hospitals and worsened health conditions for children.

NEW YORK – A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen must be named in the UN’s annual list of perpetrators of child rights violations for carrying out repeated attacks on medical facilities and personnel, a new report says today.

The report, by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and Save the Children, documents a series of deadly attacks on hospitals and medics over the past two years – and calls on UN Secretary – General António Guterres to add the Saudi Arabia – led coalition to his list of those responsible for grave violations of children’s rights in conflict.

• In 2016 then – UN Secretary – General Ban Ki – moon briefly listed the coalition for killing children and attacking schools and hospitals in Yemen, only to later remove it after pressure from Saudi Arabia. This year’s UN report on Children and Armed Conflict is due to be published in the coming months.
• Appearing on the list is an international embarrassment for states and non – state actors , which can usually only be removed after meeting UN – verified benchmarks for ending and preventing violations.
• In addition to the Saudi Arabia – led coalition, other warring parties in Yemen have also been implicated in the 160 attacks on medical facilities and personnel over the past two years. These attacks have contributed to damage and destruction of Yemen’s medical facilities, and worsened conditions for children’s health, the report said.
• Fewer than half of the medical facilities in the country are functioning, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
• The country is on the brink of famine, with 3.3 million children and pregnant or lactating women suffering from acute malnutrition and more than 460,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, according to OCHA.
• Every 10 minutes, a child in Yemen dies of preventable causes, according to UNICEF. Since 2014, the mortality rate for children under five has increased by nearly 20 percent, UNICEF said.
• In one documented case, two infants in incubators reportedly died from a lack of oxygen after a pediatric hospital in Sana a was damaged in an airstrike by the Saudi Arabia – led coalition.
• Hospitals that remain open face severe shortages of medicine and equipment , in large part due to the de facto naval blockade imposed by the coalition on Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah, the country’s lifeline for food and essential supplies. Warring parties have detained aid workers and hampered the delivery of food and medicine by land.
• In addition to the Saudi Arabia – led coalition (which consists of ten countries and gets support from the United States), parties to the conflict include Yemeni government forces and the Houthis (also known as Ansar Allah) and their allies.
• Watchlist also recommends that the United States and other UN member states immediately stop providing weapons to the coalition when there is a chance they may be used in attacks against hospitals and other violations.

Christine Monaghan, research officer at Watchlist, said:
“The UN Secretary – General cannot bow to pressure from Saudi Arabia, but must hold the Saudi Arabia – led coalition responsible for repeated attacks on medical facilities and staff. They are leading to the closure of hospitals, compromising children’s access to treatment, and increasing rates of injury and disease.”

Grant Pritchard, interim country director for Save the Children in Yemen, said:
“For two years bombs have been landing on hospitals, homes, and schools. On the ground our teams are helping children who have been physically and mentally scarred, and are supporting hospitals that are now forced to hold damaged incubators together with sticking tape. All parties have been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of children in Yemen, and the Saudi Arabia – led coalition is among them.

Those responsible must be held to account.” The full report, “Every Day Things are Getting Worse” The Impact on Children of Attacks on Health Care in Yemen, is available here: http://watchlist.org/about/report/yemen/

NOTES:

• More than half of the health facilities in 16 of the 22 assessed governorates in Yemen are closed or partially functioning due to the conflict, leaving over 14.8 million people in need of basic healthcare including 8.1 million children (OCHA).

• Yemen is facing the largest food security emergency in the world with 17 million people lacking food : 6.8 million people are in the “ emergency” phase – one stage before famine – and 10.2 million people are in the “ crisis ” phase . There are 3 million (or 20%) more food insecure people in March 2017 compared to June 2016 (IPC Report).

• According to OCHA (Yemen 2017 HRP), 7,469 people have been killed and 40,483 injured (47,952 total casualties) between March 2015 and December 31, 2016.

• Between March 2015 and February 23, 2017, 4,667 civilians were killed and 8,180 injured. (OHCHR).

Click to access watchlist-yemen-for-immediate-release_final.pdf

The UK has earned about $4billion from arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the Yemen military campaign began in March 2015, which has seen 11,000 Yemeni civilians massacred.

FIRE-EARTH Report: Wahhabi Arabia and Satellite States 05

• CJ Members
• EAC
• OC Teams

Saudi-led coalition blamed for helicopter gunship massacre of Somali refugees

Background: Somalia has blamed the Saudi-led coalition for Friday’s attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, calling the massacre by a military vessel and a helicopter gunship “horrific,” said a report.

“More than 111,500 migrants landed on Yemen’s shores last year, up from around 100,000 the year before, according to the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, a grouping of international agencies that monitors migration in the area.”

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Reports Wahhabi Arabia 01  – 05 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

FIRE-EARTH Report: Wahhabi Arabia and Satellite States 04

• CJ Members
• EAC
• OC Teams

FIRE-EARTH Report: Wahhabi Arabia, Allies Committing War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in Yemen

Background:

“In a new horrible massacre against Yemen, more than 20 people have been martyred in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a marketplace in the town of al-Hudaydah in Yemen. Graphic footage appears to show debris and bodies burning in the aftermath of the bombing,” said a report.

AFP reported  26 people had been killed in the airstrike, while Al-Masirah TV channel reported the toll as 27 killed and dozens more wounded in the attack, YemenPress said.

Riyadh and its allies stand accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for continuing to target residential areas and public gatherings. At least 61 such airstrikes have been documented by Human Rights Watch [HRW.]

HRW reported in October that the Saudi coalition, “with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK,” conducted at least 58 “unlawful airstrikes.”

The UN humanitarian organization has stated that about 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen as a result of the Saudi-led military campaign, with 7 million people close to starvation.

At least 1,400 children have been killed as a result of Saudi aggression, according to World Health Organization.

Human Rights Watch

The humanitarian situation in Yemen is “increasingly unsustainable” and the urgent action must be taken to stop the country plunging further into a “deep humanitarian catastrophe” as the situation “cannot continue like this for very long,” said the Human Rights Watch [HRW] representative for Middle East & North Africa.

“We ourselves, at Human Rights Watch, were able to document 61 apparent unlawful airstrikes, all conducted by the coalition, some of which may amount indeed to war crimes and that have killed nearly 900 civilians and have hit civilian areas, including markets, schools, hospitals and private homes,” he said.

He has called on western powers, “who are continuing to supply Saudi Arabia with weapons despite the damning evidence of its human rights violations in Yemen, to immediately halt deliveries.”

“We clearly recommend that the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others should suspend all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia until they curtail their unlawful airstrikes in Yemen and until also a credible investigation is conducted about those violations,” the HRW representative said, adding that previous investigations conducted by the coalition do not appear to HRW to be “fair or credible.”

[Report is prepared by FIRE-EARTH Science Team.]

• Report is available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

20+ Million People Threatened by Starvation and Famine in 4 Countries

Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria face major humanitarian crisis —UN

Excerpts from UN humanitarian chief’s statement to the Security Council on 10 March 2017:

Yemen

It’s already the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and the Yemeni people now face the specter of famine. Today, two-thirds of the population – 18.8 million people – need assistance and more than 7 million are hungry and do not know where there next meal will come from. That is 3 million people more than in January. As fighting continues and escalates, displacement increases. With health facilities destroyed and damaged, diseases are sweeping through the country.

South Sudan

The famine in South Sudan is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop.  More than 7.5 million people need assistance, up by 1.4 million from last year. About 3.4 million people are displaced, of which almost 200,000 have fled South Sudan since January alone. A localized famine was declared for Leer and Mayendit [counties] on 20 February, an area where violence and insecurity have compromised humanitarian access for years. More than one million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished across the country; including 270,000 children who face the imminent risk of death should they not be reached in time with assistance. Meanwhile, the cholera outbreak that began in June 2016 has spread to more locations.

Somalia

In Somalia, more than half the population – 6.2 million people – need humanitarian and protection assistance, including 2.9 million who are at risk of famine and require immediate assistance to save or sustain their lives, close to 1 million children under the age of 5 will be acutely malnourished this year. In the last two months alone, nearly 160,000 people have been displaced due to severe drought conditions, adding to the already 1.1 million people who live in appalling conditions around the country.

Nigeria and the Lake Chad region

10.7 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 7.1 million people who are severely food insecure. Humanitarian partners scaled up their response to reach the most vulnerable groups threatened by violence, food insecurity and famine, particularly in North-Eastern Nigeria.

Kenya

Over 2.7 million Kenyans are now food insecure, a number likely to reach 4 million by April.

About 1.4 Million Kids at ‘Imminent Risk of Death’ amid Looming Famine

Famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – UNICEF

Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today.

“Time is running out for more than a million children,” said UNICEF Executive Director. “We can still save many lives. The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made. Our common humanity demands faster action. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa.”

• In northeast Nigeria, up to 450,000 children face severe acute malnutrition is expected this year in the conflict-affected states.
• In Somalia, drought conditions are threatening an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict. Almost half the population, or 6.2 million people, are facing acute food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance. Up to 270,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year. 
• In South Sudan over 270,000 children are severely malnourished amid conflict, poverty and insecurity. The total number of food insecure people across the country is expected to rise from 4.9 million to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July… 
• In Yemen 462,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition – a nearly 200 per cent increase since 2014.

The report comes just a day after famine was declared in parts of Unity state in southern South Sudan, where 20,000 children live.

FIRE-EARTH Focus: Beyond Saudi Genocide in Yemen

• CJ Members

You call this savagery humanity?

“Nearly 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, and an estimated 462,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition – almost a three-fold rise over 2014 levels.”

At least 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen and that 21 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

[Prepared by FIRE-EARTH Science Team]

• Details are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

FIRE-EARTH Alert: YEMEN 2

CJ Members

FIRE-EARTH Alert: Crisis in YEMEN

• Details of the Alert are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

FIRE-EARTH Alert: YEMEN

CJ Members

• Details of the Alert are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

 

FIRE-EARTH Alert: Saudi-Financed Terrorism

• CJ Members
• MAC

FIRE-EARTH Alert: The Wahhabi Asteroid Belt

• Details of the Alert are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

One in Every 113 Humans Displaced [and Rapidly Counting]

Forced displacement hits record high: UNHCR

Global forced displacement escalate sharply in 2015 due to ongoing conflict and persecution, “reaching the highest level ever recorded and representing immense human suffering, according to a report released today by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.”

UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, which tracks forced displacement worldwide based on data from governments, partners including the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, and the organization’s own reporting, said 65.3 million people were displaced as of the end of 2015, compared to 59.5 million just 12 months earlier. This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed.

Of the 65.3 million total, about comprises 3.2 million are in industrialized countries awaiting decisions (as of end 2015) on asylum (the largest total UNHCR has recorded), 21.3 million refugees worldwide (1.8 million more than in 2014 and the highest refugee total since the early 1990s), and 40.8 million were IDPs, people who forced to flee their homes but remained within the confines of their own countries (an increase of 2.6 million from 2014 and the highest number on record).

Based on Earth’s 7.349 billion population, these numbers show that 1 in every 113 people globally is currently either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee. The numbers are comparable to the 2015 populations of UK (64.7 million), France (64.4 million) and Italy (59.8 million).

Forced displacement has been on the rise since at least the mid-1990s in most regions, but over the past five years the rate of climb has increased. The reasons are threefold: Situations that cause large refugee outflows are lasting longer (for example, conflicts in Somalia or Afghanistan are now into their third and fourth decades, respectively), dramatic new or reignited situations are occurring frequently (today’s largest being Syria, but also in the space of the past five years South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Ukraine, Central African Republic, etc.), and the rate at which solutions are being found for refugees and internally displaced people has been on a falling trend since the end of the Cold War. As recently as 10 years ago, at the end of 2005, UNHCR recorded an average of six people displaced every minute. Today that number is 24 per minute – almost double the typical frequency at which adults breathe.

“More people are being displaced by war and persecution and that’s worrying in itself, but the factors that endanger refugees are multiplying too,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “At sea, a frightening number of refugees and migrants are dying each year; on land, people fleeing war are finding their way blocked by closed borders. Politics is gravitating against asylum in some countries. The willingness of nations to work together not just for refugees but for the collective human interest is what’s being tested today, and it’s this spirit of unity that badly needs to prevail.”

Three countries produce half the world’s refugees…

Among countries covered by the Global Trends report several stand out: Syria at 4.9 million, Afghanistan at 2.7 million and Somalia at 1.1 million together accounted for more than half the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate worldwide. Colombia at 6.9 million, Syria at 6.6 million, and Iraq at 4.4 million meanwhile had the largest numbers of internally displaced people. Yemen was the biggest producer of new internal displacement in 2015 – 2.5 million people, or 9 per cent of its population.

Half the world’s refugees are children

Children constituted 51 per cent of the world’s refugees in 2015 according to the data UNHCR was able to gather (complete demographic data was not available to the report authors). Worryingly, many were separated from their parents or travelling alone. In all there were 98,400 asylum requests from children who were unaccompanied or separated from their families. This is the highest total UNHCR has seen – and a tragic reflection of how global forced displacement is disproportionately affecting young lives.

Additional Information

UNHCR’s Global Trends Report is being released on World Refugee Day, 20 June, in conjunction with our #WithRefugees petition campaign. A full multimedia package is available in connection with the Global Trends report, including infographics, photos, video materials and other products.

 

Holocaust in Mediterranean

10,000 Migrants and refugees killed crossing Mediterranean since 2014: UNHCR

About 10,000 migrants and refugees have been killed or are missing (presumed dead) in the Mediterranean since 2014, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Tuesday.

About 3,500 were killed or reported missing in the Mediterranean Sea in 2014, with the toll climbing to 3,771 in 2015, while an additional 2,800 people lost their lives so far this year.

More than 1 million migrants and refugees entered Europe in 2015, followed at least 206,000 others since the beginning of this year, UN said.

Sent by a Reader in New York

Two Acts of Ultimate Depravity by People in the Big Rotten Apple

Ban Ki-moon Buckles Under Pressure by the Terrorist Saudi Govt.

Following a protest from the terrorist government of Saudi Arabia, the corrupt UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen from a list of government forces that have committed “grave violations against children” in 2015.

The annual report on children and armed conflict released last week stated that the U.N. had verified a total of 1,953 youngsters killed or wounded in 2015 (the figure represented a six-fold increase in the number of child casualties in Yemen compared with 2014). About 60 percent of those casualties have been attributed to atrocities committed by the coalition, including 510 kids killed and 667 wounded in attacks on schools and hospitals.

NY Governor Signs Executive Order to ‘Blacklist’ BDS Supporters

Power corrupts, and gubernatorial power corrupts absolutely! New York Gov. Cuomo has signed an executive order that will penalize people and businesses that support non-violent boycott of Israel.

Cuomo said New York would “lead by example,” he said. “We are also a place of action.”

“We want to take immediate action because we want Israel to know that we’re on their side. If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.”

The so-called “anti-BDS” bill is unconstitutional because it violates the basic right of free speech. It’s an affront to American values.

Official Announcement: Governor Cuomo Signs First-in-the-Nation Executive Order Directing Divestment of Public Funds Supporting BDS Campaign Against Israel

Click to access EO_157_new.pdf

300,000 Children in Somalia Suffering from Malnutrition

Ongoing drought causing acute food insecurity in Somalia

Four successive seasons of below-average rains in parts of Somaliland and a below-average Deyr rainy season in Puntland have lead to severe drought.

The drought, exacerbated by El Niño conditions, has spread through Puntland and Somaliland, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and compounding an already challenging humanitarian situation in the region. An estimated 385,000 people face acute food insecurity in Somaliland and Puntland, with an additional 1.3 million people threatened by acute food insecurity if they do not receive assistance. (OCHA)

About 300,000 children in Somalia are suffering from malnutrition, with 60,000 under the age of five being in critical condition and in need of urgent therapeutic feeding, said reports.

Conflict and drought: Major drivers of acute food insecurity in East Africa

South Sudan

Conflict areas in Greater Upper Nile in South Sudan remain in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) acute food insecurity through the spring and summer.

“Some smaller populations in central Unity State are expected to be facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5). Areas in Greater Bahr El Ghazal and Greater Equatoria that were less directly impacted by the Government and Opposition conflict are seeing their food security threatened by very high staple food prices, brought on by restricted trade and the depreciation of the South Sudanese Pound, in addition to sporadic violence/clashes.

Ethiopia

“In Ethiopia, Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes continue in agricultural and agropastoral eastern areas of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and SNNPR Regions, as well as in pastoral areas of Afar Region and Sitti Zone in the Somali Region. Following the 2015 El Niño-related drought, there has been a slow start to 2016 rains across much of central and eastern Ethiopia. More than 10 million people in central and eastern Ethiopia will be in need of emergency food assistance this year.”

Darfur – Sudan

“Conflict in has displaced approximately 130,000 people since January.Restricted access to humanitarian assistance, markets, and labor opportunities in Central and South Darfur and SPLM-N-controlled areas of South Kordofan is contributing to Emergency (IPC Phase 4) outcomes for many where availability of and access to food is extremely limited.

Yemen

Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity outcomes are expected to continue in most areas through September 2016 and beyond.

“Protracted conflict since early 2015 has contributed to eroding livelihoods and restricting market access for many. Household purchasing power will remain weak due to atypically high food prices and livelihood disruptions. While many households will attempt to cope by selling assets and reducing the quantity and diversity of meals, these efforts are not expected to enable households to meet basic food needs.” [http://www.fews.net/]

 

 

Desert Locust Outbreak in Yemen Could Plague Surrounding Countries

Desert Locust outbreak in Yemen poses a potential threat to crops in the region

FAO has urged Yemen’s neighbors and other countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iran, to take action to prevent the destructive insects from reaching breeding areas in their territories.

Strict vigilance is also required in Morocco and Algeria, especially in areas south of the Atlas Mountains, which could become possible breeding grounds for Desert Locust that have gathered in parts of the Western Sahara, Morocco and Mauritania, FAO added.

“The extent of current Desert Locust breeding in Yemen is not well known  since survey teams are unable to access most areas. However, as vegetation dries out along the coast more groups, bands and small swarms are likely to form,” said Keith Cressman, FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer.

‘A Force of Nature’

“Desert Locust hoppers can form vast ground-based bands. These can eventually turn into adult locust swarms, which, numbering in the tens of millions can fly up to 150 km a day with the wind,” said FAO.

Female locusts can lay 300 eggs within their lifetime while an adult insect can consume roughly its own weight in fresh food per day — about two grams every day. A very small swarm eats the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people and the devastating impact locusts can have on crops poses a major threat to food security, especially in already vulnerable areas.

U.S. Complicit in War Crimes in Yemen: Human Rights Watch

U.S. should cease selling bombs to Saudi Arabia or risk complicity in civilian deaths: HRW

United States should stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, or they could be held accountable for war crimes committed in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said.

In a letter to New York Times, Human Rights Watch’s legal and policy director said:

American support for the Saudi-led coalition, including by providing targeting assistance and air refueling of coalition warplanes, makes the United States a party to the conflict in Yemen under international law. This obligates Washington to investigate coalition airstrikes that may be war crimes for which American forces may be liable.

He added:

Given the coalition’s repeated unlawful attacks in Yemen over the last year, which Human Rights Watch and others have documented, the United States should cease selling bombs to Saudi Arabia or risk complicity in civilian deaths.

The US government is spending $255 billion annually to defend Saudi Arabia and other tyrannical monarchies in the Persian Gulf region, says a Saudi scholar in Washington.

“The United States has been spending $255 billion a year since the 1970s, an average of $255 billion a year to protect the [Persian] Gulf monarchies, especially Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain,” said Ali al-Ahmed, a critic of the Saudi monarchy.

“This amount of money makes up 40 percent of the annual American defense budget and it’s greater than the combined budgets of the states of California and Florida,” said al-Ahmed, the founder and director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs, an independent think tank in Washington, DC.

“I think it’s really a way for America and the American people to stand against their government policy of supporting the tyrannical and absolute monarchies in the [Persian] Gulf countries,” he added

Under the Obama administration, the United States has entered a record $50 billion in new arms sales agreements with the Saudis.

US weapons sold to Saudi Arabia in 2015

• $7.8 billion   between May and September
• $11.25 billion  in October
• $1.29 billion in November  [Source: HRW]

Yemen Causalities

About 8,200 civilians, including 1,500 children, have been killed or injured [2,800 killed and  5,400 wounded] since violence escalated in March 2015 according to the UN, with many of the deaths caused by explosive weapons including missiles, large aerial bombs, artillery shells, rockets, mortars, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“we are a killer nation, at home and abroad”

Related Links

• Genocide in Yemen Posted on February 15, 2016
• Saudis Paying Blackwater Mercenaries to Kill Yemenis Posted on January 19, 2016
• ‘War in Yemen poses ever-growing threat to children’ Posted on January 12, 2016
• Saudi-led Forces Indiscriminately Airdrop Cluster Bombs on Yemen’s Capital, Sanaa Posted on January 7, 2016
• Mr President, doesn’t thinking about the dead kids in Yemen get you mad? Posted on January 6, 2016
• 3 Children Killed in Yemen Each Day: Save the Children Posted on December 2, 2015
• Yemen Faces Collapse! Posted on November 23, 2015
• 537,000 Yemeni Kids Risk “Severe Malnutrition” – UNICEF Posted on October 18, 2015
• 135 Civilians Killed in Saudi Airstrike on Yemen Wedding Posted on September 29, 2015
• Scale of Human Catastrophe in Yemen ‘Almost Incomprehensible’ Posted on September 20, 2015
• Saudi-led Coalition Using Same Cluster Munition in Yemen as ISIS Fired in Syria Posted on May 31, 2015
• Civilian Mass Murders with Impunity Continue in Yemen, Syria, Iraq… Posted on May 3, 2015
• Saudi Air War Massacre Kills Hundreds in Yemen Posted on April 3, 2015
• “Britain’s humanitarian and foreign policy are pursuing different ends” Posted on December 14, 2015
• Saudi state terrorism leaves 21.2 million Yemenis—82% of population—in need of humanitarian assistance

8.2 Million Children Affected by Syrian War across the Region

Only on Planet Earth!

The Cost of Five Years of War for Syrians 

The following information is base on a new report ‘The Cost of Conflict for Children – Five years of the Syria crisis, March 2016‘ released by the World Vision.

• The cost of five years of war to Syria to date is an estimated US$275 billion.
• Total impacts on education services resulted in the equivalent of 24.5 million years of lost schooling by the end of 2015.
• Between 11,000 and 19,000 children have been killed, mostly by explosive weapons.
• About 86,000 children aged 6 months to 59 months are acutely malnourished.
• Estimated life expectancy at birth has dropped by 15 years during the five-year span of the war.
• The cost of the war is estimated to grow to as much as US$689 billion in terms of lost growth, Even if the war ends this year.
• The official number of refugees seeking protection in neighbouring countries as of
  February 2016 was over 4.7 million people, said UNHCR.

War in Yemen

Some 2,430,178 people have been forcibly displaced in Yemen since the crisis erupted in late March 2015.

Increased levels of displacement have been reported in areas where the war has escalated, especially  in the five governorates of Taizz, Hajjah, Sana’a, Amran, and Sa’ada, which together account for 68 percent of all internally displaced people (IDPs) in Yemen.

Central African Republic: Children Victims of Relentless Violence in a Climate of Total Impunity

The UN says it has documented the killing of 333 children and maiming of 589 others in brutal attacks targeting communities for reprisals or other motives. It has also documented more than 500 cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence since 2011. https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/press-release/central-african-republic-report/

Saudis Paying Blackwater Mercenaries to Kill Yemenis

Reader submitted

400 Blackwater Mercenaries Fighting for Saudi-Led Coalition in Yemen: Report

Saudi-led coalition have hired mercenaries from around the world to fight in Yemen, including about 400 contractors from the US private security firm Blackwater, said Yemeni army spokesman Brig. Gen. Sharaf Ghalib Luqman.

“They hire poor people from around the world to take part in the hostilities. Among them are Somalis and people from Sudanese tribes. However, there are also Europeans, Americans, Colombians. These are contractors from a structure known as Blackwater. This division includes around 400 people,” Luqman told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Related Links

• Yemeni Army Claims Hundreds of Saudi Vehicles, Numerous Aircraft Destroyed

• Soviet Missiles Effectively Used in Fight Against Saudi-Led Coalition

‘War in Yemen poses ever-growing threat to children’

10 Million children in Yemen facing a new year of misery

The following statement is attributable to Julien Harneis, UNICEF Representative in Yemen

“With no end in sight to the deadly conflict in Yemen, nearly 10 million children inside the country are now facing a new year of pain and suffering.

Continuous bombardment and street fighting are exposing children and their families to a deadly combination of violence, disease and deprivation.

“The direct impact of the conflict on children is hard to measure. The statistics confirmed by the UN (747 children killed and another 1,108 injured since March last year; 724 children pressed into some form of military activity) tell only part of the story. But they are shocking enough in themselves.

“The broader effects of the violence on innocent civilians extend much further. Children make up at least half of the 2.3 million people estimated to have been displaced from their homes, and of the more than 19 million people struggling to get water on a daily basis; 1.3 million children under five face the risk of acute malnutrition and acute respiratory tract infections. And at least 2 million children cannot go to school.

“Public services like health, water and sanitation have been decimated and cannot meet the ever-increasing needs of a desperate population. Few of the 7.4 million children requiring protection (including psycho-social support to help deal with the effects of their exposure to violence) will actually receive it.

“The longer-term consequences of all this for Yemen – which was already the Middle East’s poorest nation even before the conflict — can only be guessed at.

“Agencies like UNICEF are doing the best they can, in an extremely hazardous working environment. As a result, in 2015, more than 4 million children under 5 were vaccinated against measles and polio, and 166,000 children were admitted for treatment against malnutrition. Over 3.5 million affected people were provided with access to water and 63,520 people belonging to extremely poor communities were assisted with humanitarian cash transfers in the cities of Sanaa and Taiz.

“But so much more is needed. The children of Yemen need urgent help and they need it now.

“That can happen if all parties involved in the conflict – as is their duty under International Humanitarian Law — were to allow unhindered access to areas affected by the fighting, where civilians are dying because hospitals are not functioning, medicines are in short supply and children are at risk of dying from preventable diseases. Aid agencies would then be able to scale up their work accordingly.

“But what is really needed — above all else — is an end to the conflict. Only in that way can the children of Yemen look forward to 2016 with hope rather than despair.”

Saudi-led Forces Indiscriminately Airdrop Cluster Bombs on Yemen’s Capital, Sanaa

Deliberate or reckless use of cluster bombs in populated areas is a war crime: HRW

Saudi-led coalition forces airdropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, early on January 6, 2016, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“It is not yet clear whether the attacks caused civilian casualties, but the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of war. The deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime.”

“The coalition’s repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These outrageous attacks show that the coalition seems less concerned than ever about sparing civilians from war’s horrors.”

Description of the aerial attacks provided by the residents of two Sanaa neighborhoods are consistent with cluster munition use, said HRW.

HRW has identified several types of the munitions including US-made BLU-63 antipersonnel/anti-materiel submunitions and components of a CBU-58 cluster bomb, manufactured in 1978 at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in the state of Tennessee, CBU-58 cluster bombs, which contains 650 submunitions  (U.S. transferred 1,000 CBU-58 bombs to Saudi Arabia sometime between 1970 and 1995).

The CBU-58 cluster bomb and BLU-63 submunition were developed by the US during the Vietnam War and are designed to attack personnel and lightly protected materiel. The submunitions also contain 5-gram titanium pellets that produce an incendiary effect on flammable targets.

Five different types of cluster munitions have been used in Yemen, four of them by the Saudis, and one by as yet an unknown source, according to HRW and Amnesty International.

The US is a party to the armed conflict in Yemen, playing a direct role in coordinating military operations, and as such, is obligated to investigate alleged violations of the laws of war in which its forces took part.

A US Defense Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity,  told U.S. News and World Report in August that “the U.S. is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in Yemen.”

The US Defense Department announced in November that “the State Department had approved a sale of US$1.29 billion worth of air-to-ground munitions, such as laser-guided bombs and ‘general purpose’ bombs with guidance systems – none of which are cluster munitions. The US should not sell aerial bombs to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen,” HRW said.

HRW has called on the UN Human Rights Council to create an independent, international inquiry into alleged war crimes in Yemen by “all sides.”

“It may have been 20 years since the US last provided cluster munitions to the Saudis, but they are being used to kill civilians now,” Goose said. “The US, as a party to the conflict, should be demanding that the coalition immediately stop using these weapons or risk becoming complicit in their use.”

Read more…

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