'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
According to UNICEF, one woman and six newborns die every two hours from complications during pregnancy or childbirth.
“Fifteen million children in Yemen are asking you to save their lives” the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the 15 members of the Security Council on Wednesday [15 May 2019], in an impassioned plea for action to end four years of fighting which has left at least 7,300 children killed or seriously injured.
Aden, 7 May 2019 (IOM)* –– Some 3,000 migrants continue to be held in two temporary detention sites in Yemen’s Aden and Abyan governorates. Among those detained are Ethiopian nationals, many practicing Muslims, who are embarking on thirty days of Ramadan fasting while detained.
Some 3000 migrants are detained in temporary detention sites in Yemen, many of whom are fasting for Ramadan. Photo: Olivia Headon / IOM 2019
Aden, 2 May 2019 (IOM)* — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is alarmed by reports of migrants dying of preventable illnesses, being shot and suffering other inhumane treatment in makeshift detention centres in Yemen, now in its fifth year of conflict.
Detained migrants treated by IOM’s health team in the 22nd of May Stadium where over 2,500 people are being held. Photo: Headon/IOM 2019
– When US political leaders urged the Trump administration to either reduce or cut off arms supplies to Saudi Arabia – largely as a punishment for its indiscriminate bombings of civilians in the four-year old military conflict in Yemen—President Trump provided a predictable response: “If we don’t sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the Chinese and the Russians will.”
Perhaps in theory it’s plausible, but in practice it’s a long shot primarily because switching weapons systems from Western to Chinese and Russian arms— particularly in the middle of a devastating war– could be a long drawn out process since it involves maintenance, servicing, training, military advice and uninterrupted supplies of spares.
“Shall we not learn from life its laws, dynamics, balances? Learn to base our needs not on death, destruction, waste, but renewal?”
— Nancy Newhall
René Wadlow
On 16 April 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump vetoed S.J. Resolution 7 to withdraw U.S. support for the Saudi and United Arab Emirates-led coalition in the war on Yemen.
The resolution had passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support.
However, there are most likely not enough votes to override the veto; a two-thirds majority is needed.
Also on 16 April, a French investigative NGO with web journal Disclose published a note of the French military intelligence service indicating that French arms sold to Saudi Arabia were being used against civilians in Yemen.(1)
Destroyed house in the south of Sanaa | | CC BY-SA 4.0
“These leaked documents provide clear evidence that French military equipment supplied to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is being widely used in the conflict in Yemen.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 