Saudi Arabia is under growing international pressure from the U.N., U.S. Congress and global media outlets to unconditionally lift its blockade of Yemen, amid warnings of a serious deterioration to the already dire humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.
In an unusual joint statement from the United Nations, the heads of the World Food Program, Unicef, and the World Health Organization said the cost of the blockade was “being measured in the number of lives that are lost.”
“Together, we issue another urgent appeal for the coalition to permit entry of lifesaving supplies to Yemen in response to what is now the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” that statement said.
Calls for the lifting of the blockade also rung through the halls of the U.S. congress earlier this week. As Politico reports, the U.S. House of Representatives took the rare step of exercising its war-making role by overwhelmingly passed a resolution explicitly stating that U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen is not authorized under legislation passed by Congress to fight terrorism or invade Iraq.
America’s largest media outlets have also drawn public attention into the crisis in Yemen. The New York Times editorial board accused Saudi Arabia of trying to “starve Yemen into submission.”
“Misery has been Yemen’s lot after more than three years of unrelenting war….The only way to end the Yemeni people’s hell is for Congress and the United Nations to keep pressing all parties for a political solution,” the New York Times writes.
