UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that children in Yemen are exposed to multiple health risks, revealing that a child dies every 10 minutes due to conflict or disease.
Guterres recently called for a peaceful resolution to the Yemeni conflict during the opening of a virtual conference aimed at raising $3.85 billion for relief operations in the country. He urged all efforts to be made to achieve this objective. In his speech to representatives from around 100 countries and donor entities via video link, Guterres stressed that the humanitarian situation in Yemen is extremely dire, with relief organizations forced to halt their programs.
"I call on all donors to generously fund our appeal to stop the famine looming over the country," Guterres added, saying, "Every dollar counts." He noted that reducing humanitarian aid to Yemen would have catastrophic consequences, especially for Yemeni children, emphasizing that $3.5 billion is needed for humanitarian assistance this year.
The UN Secretary-General urged all parties in Yemen to work with Special Envoy Martin Griffiths to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict, asserting that the only way to achieve peace in Yemen is through an immediate ceasefire and trust-building measures, followed by a political process.
Guterres revealed that 400,000 Yemeni children face severe malnutrition and could die without urgent treatment, noting that nearly half of children under five in Yemen are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. He appealed to all donors to respond generously to the UN appeal to stop the famine sweeping through Yemen.
Guterres underscored the necessity of an immediate end to the senseless conflict ongoing in Yemen and to address its dire consequences right away. The UN is organizing the conference in partnership with Switzerland and Sweden to encourage donor countries to quickly contribute to raise $3.85 billion and prevent a "widespread famine" in Yemen, which has been embroiled in a devastating power struggle for over six years. The conference comes at a time when the conflict is escalating, with Houthi attempts to seize the city of Marib, the last stronghold of the internationally recognized government in the north, and intensified attacks against Saudi Arabia.
