Yemen
Emergency in Yemen
The humanitarian situation in Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, is alarming. Humanity & Inclusion is on the ground helping victims and ensuring that vital aid reaches the people who need it most.
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Humanity & Inclusion in Yemen
Humanity & Inclusion has 127 staff members working in Yemen to support people with disabilities, as well as those injured in the regional conflict that started in March 2015. The organization also supports NGOs to better include people with disabilities in emergency response.
Following its reunification in 1991, Yemen has been subject to chronic political instability and a catastrophic economic situation. Since 2011, the country has experienced a new spiral of violence which has culminated in a civil war opposing diverse political factions. This conflict has become particularly violent following March 2015 and the military intervention of a coalition of Arab countries in the country. The war has since taken root, becoming one of the worst crises on the world with at least 100,000 people who have been killed, and leaving Yemen heavily contaminated by improvised explosive devices and mines.
Essential infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed by bombing raids, and more than half of the country's health facilities are no longer operational.
More than 20 million people require humanitarian aid. Among them, 16 million Yemenis are food insecure and and over 4 million are displaced due to the violence. Humanitarian organizations continue to experience challenges working in the country.
Read the latest facts and figures report from Yemen (January 2020)
Areas of Intervention
- Relief for victims of conflict
- Orthopedic fitting and rehabilitation
- Inclusive emergency response
- Explosive weapons risk education
Since its return to Yemen in 2014, Humanity & Inclusion has been implementing actions to mitigate the impact of the crisis affecting the whole country, focusing on injured people and people with disabilities, and meeting the most urgent needs as close as possible to frontlines.
The organization currently works in hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Sana’a, Hajjah, Aden Lajih, and Taizz governorates. Teams provide physical rehabilitation, mobility devices and psychosocial support to the people injured or left with permanent disabilities by the conflict. Humanity & Inclusion also delivers training and awareness-raising sessions to the physical therapists and other medical staff working on rehabilitation care and the treatment of war injuries.
Humanity & Inclusion also supports other humanitarian organizations working in Yemen to ensure that people with disabilities, isolated people, women, aging individuals and children are included within the humanitarian interventions.
Humanity & Inclusion also raises the awareness relating to the presence of explosive devices and mines, teaching people how to spot, avoid and report these dangerous weapons.
Annual Cluster Munition report: alarming escalation of cluster munition use in Yemen and Syria
The newest, annual report on cluster munitions reveals the intense and repeated use of cluster munitions in Syria and Yemen. Cluster Munition Monitor 2016, co-produced by Handicap International, officially records 76 attacks in Syria since September 2015, and 19 in Yemen since March 2015. Handicap International calls on States to comply with international law, and pressure belligerent parties to end the use of this barbaric weapon.
The report finds that 97% of victims of cluster munitions were civilians in 2015, and 36% were children. The conflicts in Yemen and Syria are among the most hazardous in the world for civilians, who make up the majority of new victims of cluster munitions recorded in 2015, according to the Monitor.
“We must never tolerate brutality," says Marion Libertucci, deputy director of Handicap International's advocacy unit. “The repeated use of cluster munitions in Syria and Yemen reveals a total disregard for civilian lives and, in certain cases, a deliberate attempt to target them. Cluster munitions kill and maim during an attack. They also leave explosive remnants behind that function like anti-personnel mines and can cause casualties long after a conflict has ended. Every effort must be made to ensure the Convention on Cluster Munitions is enforced and to end the use of this barbaric weapon in conflict situations.”
Cluster munition usage has been on the rise in Syria, which was already badly affected by these weapons, with ten of the country’s 14 governorates hit by 360 attacks using cluster munitions since July 2012. This figure is probably lower than actual use. There are near daily reports of new cluster munition attacks in Syria, according to the Monitor’s researchers.
In Yemen, since the Saudi-led coalition against Ansar Allah (The Houthis) began military operations on March 25, 2015, cluster munitions have been used in at least 19 attacks between April 2015 and February 2016. As in Syria, a large number of the attacks in Yemen were in populated areas, such as markets, schools, and hospitals. This use led the United States to suspend their sales of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia last May.
A total of five States and one territory were affected by the use of cluster munitions between January 2015 and July 2016: in addition to Syria and Yemen, the use of cluster munitions was once again reported in Ukraine, Sudan, and Libya, in early 2015. According to reliable, but as yet unconfirmed reports, cluster munitions also appear to have been used in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in April 2016.
Handicap International is alarmed by the widespread and uncontrolled use of these banned weapons. “War does not mean everything is justified,” Libertucci says. “Not everything is allowed. International law exists and the Convention on Cluster Munitions is part of that. It must be enforced. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Mine Ban Convention and the Geneva conventions protect us from barbarism. All States have a responsibility to ensure these rules are upheld and enforced.”
Around the world, 24 States and three territories remain contaminated by cluster munition remnants. The renewed use of cluster munitions in Sudan and Ukraine, up through early 2015, and currently in Syria and Yemen, has increased contamination, endangering the lives of thousands of people for years to come. Handicap International is calling on States to support risk education, weapons clearance, and victim assistance programs that are essential for these countries and territories.
Handicap International calls on belligerent parties - States and non-State armed groups - to immediately end the use of cluster munitions. Handicap International also calls on States to pressure their allies using cluster munitions to end this practice. Lastly, Handicap International calls on all States to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions by immediately ending the sale or transfer of these weapons.
The Cluster Munition Monitor 2016 reviews every country in the world with respect to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, trade, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, during the period from January 2015 to July 2016.
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Notes
- Experts available for comment in Washington, DC, and Europe.
- Handicap International advocates will attend the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva, Switzerland from September 5– 7, 2016, and are available for comment throughout the conference.
More information
Cluster bombs are weapons containing several hundred mini-bombs called cluster munitions. Designed to be scattered over large areas, they inevitably fall in civilian areas. Up to 30% (or even 40%) do not explode on impact. Like anti-personnel mines, they can be triggered at the slightest contact, killing and maiming people during and after conflicts. By indiscriminately affecting civilian and military targets, cluster munitions violate international humanitarian law.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions banning the use, production, transfer, stockpiling and sale of cluster munitions was opened for signature in December 2008. There are currently 119 State signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
About Handicap International
Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 34 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since its founding in 1982, Handicap International has set up development programs in more than 60 countries and intervenes in numerous emergency situations. The network of eight national associations (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) works constantly to mobilize resources, jointly manage projects and to increase the impact of the organization’s principles and actions. Handicap International is one of six founding organizations of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and the winner of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest prize for humanitarians, in 2011. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “living in dignity” is no easy task.
Handicap International condemns latest attack on MSF hospital in Yemen
Handicap International and five other aid agencies have condemned a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a hospital supported by Doctors without Borders (MSF) in Abs, in Hajja governorate in Yemen. Oxfam, Care, Handicap International, Mercy Corps, Intersos and Save the Children called for an independent investigation into Monday's attack, the fourth on an MSF-supported facility in Yemen in less than a year that comes just two days after an airstrike on a school killed ten children and injured 28 others in the Saada Governorate.
Sajjad Mohammad Sajid, Oxfam Yemen Country Director, said: “This was a horrific attack killing sick and injured people and the medical staff desperately trying to help them. The world cannot continue to turn a blind eye as the most vulnerable suffer in this terrible conflict. We urge all parties to the conflict to reach a political solution to stop the violence and put an end to the bloodshed."
Edward Santiago, Save the Children’s Yemen Country Director, said: “The Saudi Arabia-led Coalition claims to have taken measures to prevent and end grave violations against children but they are clearly not working if children continue to be killed and injured and schools and hospitals attacked.”
“These airstrikes on a school, then a hospital, have devastating consequences for civilians,” says Anne Héry, head of advocacy and institutional relations. “This is totally unacceptable. Handicap International is demanding an investigation into these attacks and is once again calling on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to immediately refrain from launching airstrikes against civilians.”
As violence resumed last week following the failure of the recent peace talks in Kuwait, civilians continue to be deliberately put at the center of the conflict. The escalation of attacks and the closure of Yemen’s main airport are putting millions of people at risk.
Air strikes were identified as responsible for 60% of the 785 children killed and 1,168 wounded in Yemen last year. In recent weeks civilian casualties have continued to mount with the UN recording 272 deaths and 543 injuries in the four months from April to August this year.
More than 2.8 million people have fled their homes because of the daily bombardments and shelling since the beginning of the conflict.
The UN and human rights organizations report widespread allegations of breaches of the laws of war in Yemen by all parties to the conflict.
Closure of Yemen’s main airport puts millions of people at risk
Handicap International and 11 other aid agencies today called on the Saudi-led coalition to lift restrictions on Yemeni airspace and allow the reopening of the country's main airport, Sana’a International, to allow humanitarian flights to resume.
“The closure of Yemen’s main airport, which serves much of the country, is inexcusable when millions of Yemeni families are in urgent need of life-saving assistance," said Syma Jamil, NRC Country Director on behalf of the INGOs in Yemen.
“The closure only serves to make it even more difficult for aid agencies to get help to those that desperately need it, cutting off an important humanitarian assistance lifeline. All parties to the conflict must ensure that they allow humanitarian aid to reach the Yemeni population, in line with their obligations under international law.”
As a result of the conflict, over 14 million Yemenis are in need of food aid. One in three Yemeni children under five years old–approximately 1.3 million–are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Alongside humanitarian flights, commercial flights, which also often bring in vital supplies and allow the free movement of civilians, should also be allowed to recommence.
Jamil added: “The closure effectively seals Yemen off to the rest of the world at a time when half the population is malnourished and hospitals urgently require more medicine and medical supplies.
“We call on the Saudi-led coalition to immediately lift all airspace restrictions and allow the airport to be re-opened without further delay.”
The announced closure of Yemen’s airspace for a period of 72 hours was made on Monday, August 8. As of Sunday, August 14, the airspace remains closed.
The airspace closure coincides with a resumption of airstrikes on Sana’a and other parts of Yemen, which put the lives of Yemeni civilians as serious risk. Already the first civilian casualties–including children–from renewed aerial bombardments are being reported.
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The following NGOs participated
- ACTED
- Action Contre la Faim/Action Against Hunger
- Care
- Danish Refugee Council
- Global Communities
- Handicap International
- International Rescue Committee
- INTERSOS
- Mercy Corps
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- Oxfam
- Save The Children
Handicap International Yemen Operations Coordinator available for comment
More on Handicap International's work in Yemen
Weekend media contact (Mica) | (202) 290 9264
CMC: Ban all Cluster Munitions Transfers
This article was written by the Cluster Munition Coalition U.S., a coalition of non-governmental organizations including Handicap International, which works to achieve a comprehensive U.S. ban on cluster bombs.
Use of banned weapons reaches record levels
The worldwide use of banned explosive weapons such as landmines and cluster bombs increased significantly in 2014 and 2015, largely due to unchecked use in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar, and Tunisia. To mark the international day of landmine and cluster munition awareness, April 4, Handicap International is calling on the international community to strongly condemn this practice, and for an immediate end to the use of these weapons.
Banned under international law, these weapons have been used at an alarming rate in recent years. Cluster munitions use is at its highest level since 2010, when the Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force. Handicap International is calling on States and non-State armed groups to immediately end the use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, as well as their sale, and transfer. Any use of these weapons must be unanimously and systematically condemned.
According to the latest Cluster Munition Monitor report, published in August 2015, cluster munitions were used in five countries between July 2014 and July 2015: Libya, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen—all States which have not signed the treaty. Not since the ban treaty entered into force in 2010, have so many States or non-State actors been involved in the use of cluster munitions. The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) has also found cluster munitions used on numerous occasions in Yemen and Syria.
In stark contrast, the Cluster Munition Monitor found only two countries impacted by the use of cluster munitions in 2011 and 2012, and three in 2013.
79% of victims are civilians
The latest Landmine Monitor report, published in November 2015, found an alarming and “significant increase” in the use of anti-personnel mines and improvised explosive devices by non-State armed groups in ten countries: Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Yemen. The last time the Monitor reported use of these weapons in ten or more countries was 2006.
The vast majority of casualties of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions are civilians—79% of reported casualties.
“The repeated use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions reveals a total disregard for civilian lives and, in some cases, a deliberate intention to target them,” says Emmanuel Sauvage, the organization's anti-mine action regional coordinator, based in Amman, Jordan. “Cluster munitions kill and main during an attack. They also leave explosive remnants behind that function like anti-personnel mines and can cause casualties long after a conflict has ended.”
Yemen is a particularly revealing example. For several months, explosive weapons have been used by all parties to the conflict on a massive scale in populated areas. Anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions have been deployed regularly. In May 2015, Human Rights Watch, for example, confirmed the use of cluster munitions in the north of the governorate of Saada, close to the border with Saudi Arabia. Cluster munitions landed less than 600 meters from several dozen homes. Anti-personnel mines were also used on several occasions this summer. In total, since March 2015, Human Rights Watch has recorded 15 incidents involving six types of cluster munitions in at least five of Yemen’s 21 governorates: Amran, Hajja, Hodaida, Saada, and Sanaa.
Handicap International is calling on States and non-State armed groups to immediately end the use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, their sale and transfer, to strongly condemn their use under any circumstances and, when they are party to a conflict, to apply pressure on their allies not to use these weapons.
Related news:
Yemen: injured need urgent care
PHOTO: Saeed, a Handicap International physical therapist, works with a patient at the Al-Thawra hospital in Sanaa, one of the main hospitals providing care for victims of the conflict.
