The Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen

As important as it is to know about and respond to the current situation in Afghanistan, I also want to keep the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in my heart and mind. It’s the crisis that continues to unfold in Yemen.

For almost seven years, Yemen has been entangled in a devastating civil war that has left more than five million citizens on the brink of starvation. In 2015, U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia instituted a blockade, which has only exacerbated the conditions and have prevented much needed resources from reaching the people who need it most.

In the 30-minute interview below, author and activist Marianne Williamson talks with Friends Committee on National Legislation’s lead lobbyist on Middle East Peace, Hassan El-Tayyab, about the dire situation in Yemen and how the U.S. could be more helpful.





Related Off-site Links:
Act Now to End the Saudi Blockade of Yemen – Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Congress Tried to Force Trump to End the Yemen War. Now They’ll Have to Do the Same With Biden – Sarah Lazare (In These Times, July 29, 2021).
Biden Turns His Back on Yemen – Aisha Jumann and Charles Pierson (Common Dreams, July 8, 2021).
“This Is the Darkest Moment I Have Ever Seen”: UN Official Describes Crisis in Yemen – Sky News (June 27, 2020).
How to Help Yemen: Six Things You Can Do Right Now For the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis – Arianne Cohen (Fast Company, June 17, 2020).
Daily Life, a Struggle for Survival in Yemen – Oxfam.org.
Yemen Crisis: Why Is There a War? – BBC News, June 19, 2020).
Yemen Crisis Is Largest in the World, Aid Agencies Say – Charlene Gubash (NBC News, July 30, 2017).

UPDATES: Yemen Faces “Unimaginable Suffering” as US-Backed Saudi War Enters Eighth Year – Jenna McGuire (Common Dreams, March 24, 2022).
Every Single Member of Congress Is Willing to Let Yemeni Children Die – David Swanson (Let’s Try Democracy, August 24, 2022).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• How We Can Help the People of Yemen (2018)
• Prayer of the Week: “The Heart of Compassion” by Joyce Rupp
• Letting Them Sit By Me

Image 1: A malnourished child receives treatment in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
Image 2: A boy lies on a bed of a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. (Photo: Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters)
Image 3: Children attending class on the first day of school, which was damaged by an airstrike during fighting between Saudi-led coalition-backed government forces and Houthi forces, Taizz, Yemen – September 3, 2019. (Photo: Ahmad al-Basha/AFP/Getty Images)