Recently the International Rescue Committee published a list of ten low-income countries that in 2019 will face a humanitarian crisis. These countries are already the source of two-thirds of the refugees on our planet. Yemen is among them, and it has been in turmoil for four years of war. Instead of lamenting the “refugee crisis” on social media, we should try to help Yemeni families in a meaningful way.
Last year, millions of people lost their homes due to crises caused by both natural disasters and human actions. In 2019, the situation will worsen further, warned the public by Bob Kitchen, vice president of the International Rescue Committee. Some countries have appeared on the humanitarian crisis list for several years in a row (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Somalia), while Ethiopia and Venezuela recently joined them. Yemen, the poorest Arab country (ironically rich in oil), has been on the list for four years.
Yemeni oil brought financial gains over many years only to the ruling class and to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. However, after three decades of unchallenged rule, during the Arab Spring he lost his position and a civil war broke out in the country. A ousted Saleh joined the Shiite rebels from the Houthi movement, and together they controlled the northeast of the state. Iran supported them, and in 2014 they occupied the capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen.
Their advance forced Saudi Arabia and other allied Sunni countries in 2015 to launch airstrikes so that the rebels would not reach Aden, the temporary seat of the Yemeni government supported by Saudi Arabia. The pro-government forces consisted mainly of soldiers loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, as well as predominantly Sunni tribes and separatists in the south. The president had support not only from neighboring countries, but also from the wider international community led by the United States. And so Yemen was drawn into a conflict that has lasted four years and has taken tens of thousands of lives, both wounded and dead.
Humanitarian aid blockade Since the conflict broke out in March 2015 in the Republic of Yemen between the internationally recognized government and rebels from the Houthi movement, the fighting has taken more than hundreds of thousands of wounded and tens of thousands of lives. The twenty-seven-million Yemen also faces a humanitarian crisis in the areas hit by the fighting.
Bombardments and ongoing fighting have destroyed food production, so Yemen has become fully dependent on humanitarian aid deliveries. Yet Saudi Arabia blocks the sea routes, preventing food and essential goods from entering the country. In addition, in the past few months famine has been accompanied by a cholera epidemic and other infectious diseases due to water problems and insufficient hygiene.
Neither the Yemeni government nor the so-called Houthis, who are fighting against it, are cooperating with humanitarian organizations, according to regional UNICEF director Geert Cappelaere and relief organizations. According to the UN, humanitarian aid is now needed by more than twenty-two million people, of whom almost ten million are immediately threatened with death from starvation. It goes without saying that among the victims are hundreds of thousands of children.
The Pope also condemned the crisis in Yemen
Before his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis called for an end to the Yemen crisis, thereby addressing his upcoming hosts as well. “I am watching the humanitarian crisis in Yemen with grave concern. The population is exhausted from the long conflict and many children are suffering from hunger,” the pope said before the faithful in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican at the beginning of February. Until a peace agreement and the end of the conflict are reached, thousands of people will flee their homes because of war and hunger, likely to Europe. There they will apply to the authorities for protection and support, hoping for a fresh start and a dignified life.
ADRA Slovakia is a member of the global ADRA network; some of its branches are directly involved in crisis relief on the ground, thereby supporting the work of the ADRA Yemen team. The Slovak ADRA organization, in turn, works through an integration project with people who have been forced to leave Yemen. Granting asylum and subsidiary protection are among the two basic forms of international protection. Slovakia grants subsidiary protection when asylum is not granted to an applicant, but where there are serious grounds to believe that a person would face a real threat of severe injustice if returned to the country of origin.
ADRA Slovakia implements the STEP 3 project called “Integration of People with International Protection in the Slovak Republic”, co-financed by the European Union from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Within it, our social workers work with people in Slovakia with international protection (asylum, subsidiary protection). There are currently 120 clients of various ages from different parts of the world who are slowly finding new opportunities in Slovakia. In a few days, a few families from Yemen will also join.
How ADRA helps Yemeni families
People with international protection are provided, through NGO cooperation (in this case Marginal and ADRA Slovakia under STEP 3), with services such as social, psychological and legal help and counseling, as well as financial support. Participation in the project is voluntary, but everyone takes part because Slovakia still does not have a state integration program.
A six-member family from Yemen is joining the project, with its youngest member, a nine-month-old baby, for whom social workers were searching for housing even before Christmas. They ultimately secured one for them in Trnava, but there is little in the apartment, and it is still not really workable yet.
So they are appealing to all supporters of ADRA for help—so that together we can provide it with dignity. For the apartment, they need simple furniture with the children’s ages in mind (a cot; a high chair; a bed, possibly a bunk bed; dining chairs; an electric cooker; pillows, blankets, duvets and pillowcases, as well as a stroller). If you have anything from this list, contact us by email at office@adra.sk. Thank you in advance for your help and support.
Text: Boba Markovič Baluchová, ADRA team Photo: UN News, ADRA Yemen****
More about STEP 3 project here: www.adra.sk/integracia