UN Expert Warns over ’Deliberate Starvation of Civilians’ in Yemen
Local Editor
A UN official on Tuesday warned armed factions in Yemen over "the deliberate starvation of civilians", as the embattled country grapples with a food crisis that has left 850,000 children facing acute malnutrition.
Six million people are "severely food insecure", the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, said in a statement.
Armed groups besieging population centers were partly to blame, Elver said.
"Sieges in a number of governorates, including Aden, AL Dhali, Lahj and Taiz, have been preventing staple food items, such as wheat, from reaching the civilian population," the statement said.
She noted that Saudi-led air strikes have reportedly targeted both markets and trucks carrying food.
The food crisis is set to deteriorate further, according to Elver, with the number of children facing acute malnutrition in Yemen due to rise to 1.2 million "in the coming weeks".
"The deliberate starvation of civilians in both international and internal armed conflict may constitute a war crime," she further said.
A Saudi-led military coalition began an aggression against Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country on March 26. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].
According to the UN World Health Organization [WHO] on Tuesday, the conflict had claimed 4,345 lives from the escalation of fighting in March to August 5.
