The West Is Ignoring Yemen’s Human Rights Crisis

The conflict in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of civilians since its start in 2015 (Image)

What began as a conflict over a transfer of power following the Arab Spring and a subsequent insurgency had grown into a proxy war fought between some of the world’s strongest countries over one of the Middle East’s weakest. The nearly five-year-old war been an extended human rights crisis engendered by famine, a wide-spread cholera outbreak due to the lack of clean water and rapidly deteriorating public infrastructure that makes it difficult to remedy any of these issues.

Internal conflict has flared in Yemen for decades. In the early 1990s the country appeared to have turned a corner, experiencing relative stability following two democratic elections of presidents. However, terror attacks beginning in the early 2000s, coupled with a 2004 insurgency led by a dissident Shia cleric, began to weaken the burgeoning democracy. The insurgency continued to fade in and out of relevance until the 2011 Arab Spring. The protests began over economic problems and corruption and forced the hand of then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. In the power vacuum left behind, his successor was left with the same issues intensified by the sudden shift in power and a vulnerable government susceptible to an insurgency. Shia Houthi rebels aligned with the former president took over the capital city and forced the replacement president to flee the country.

Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s neighbor to the north, viewed the Shia power grab as a major threat to their Sunni-majority country and thus formed a coalition with eight other majority Sunni countries from the Middle East and Africa — along with monetary and intelligence support from the United States and Britain. The Houthi faction in Yemen received support from the majority-Shia Iran. This has effectively led to the escalation of the rebellion and turned the fighting into an outsourced proxy war. To add to the chaos, both Al-Qaeda and ISIS elements engaged in the theater as well.

With so many powerful nations supporting both sides of the conflict, as well as the continuous presence of terrorist organizations, the violence has yet to resolve. The United States has quietly grown its presence providing jet fuel, weapons and munitions to Saudi Arabia. In 2016 the United States Senate debated over a $1.15 billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia; ultimately the deal succeeded. While this figure appears large, it is minuscule compared to an estimated $100 billion in arms deals contracted by Saudi Arabia during the Obama Administration, and $110 billion from the Trump administration. Besides the United States’ role, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Spain and Turkey have collectively sold over $5.9 billion dollars worth of drones, bombs and rockets to the Saudi coalition as well. 

There have been some high profile incidents that have garnered media attention through the course of the conflict. These include the 2015 drone strike on a wedding that killed 131 civilians, the destruction of a school bus full of children by a US weapon and the recent alleged Iranian drone attack on a Saudi oil field that was claimed by Yemeni rebels. Outside of major catastrophes and actions that threaten the global economy, most developments in Yemen have remained largely out of American headlines and the public’s consciousness. 

Despite the lack of headlines, the crisis in Yemen continues. Most recently it has experienced the deadliest month on record for civilians in Yemen. The carnage included airstrikes on a mosque, a family home and on a UN-supported water system that served 12,000 people. The famine has now put 20 million people at risk of starvation with 67 percent of the population suffering from severe acute food insecurity. The famine has stemmed from a lack of arable land in Yemen, skyrocketing inflation as well as a Saudi blockade on major ports. In addition to the life-threatening lack of food, 18 million Yemenis have no access to clean drinking water and a cholera outbreak affecting 1.2 million has become the largest outbreak to date.

There is no end in sight for the war in Yemen, although recent efforts have been made. The Saudi coalition has fractured of late, with the United Arab Emirates withdrawing significant forces as some indication that Gulf partners are tiring of the conflict. Some supplies have been allowed to enter key ports, and there has been some progress by the UN in negotiating a ceasefire and bringing the parties to the negotiating table. As for the United States’ involvement, in April both the Senate and the House passed resolutions citing the War Powers Resolution rebuking the president’s ability to wage war without Congressional approval. The resolution was vetoed by President Trump and the veto was upheld by the Senate despite earlier support. Few further efforts have been made by the U.S. or the international community.