Yemen’s children at the mercy of the Houthis: Iran’s militia steals UN medical aid

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

The Houthi militia does not differentiate between those who bear arms and those who do not, and they have gone beyond war and the coup against legitimacy with their continuing violations that amount to war crimes. The last of these crimes was the large-scale theft and looting of medical products for children the Houthi-affiliated health ministry, according to UN sources working in Yemen.

Profiting from death

According to sources on Friday, December 27, the Houthi health ministry stole special medical aid provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) – namely a swine flu vaccine – and refused to distribute it to Yemeni hospitals and health clinics.

The News Yemen website point out that these vaccines were seized by the Houthi militia, which claimed that the vaccines be examined “to ensure their safety and that they have not expired.” Instead of returning the medical supplies to Yemen’s children of Yemen, they were sold by senior officials of the Houthi health ministry for large sums of money.

This comes days after the Houthis admitted that 94 people died after contractig swine flu, although they denied the existence of the epidemic or its spread among citizens in the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Iranian-backed coup militia.

Theft of 600 million riyals

International organizations, especially health organizations, are seeking to alleviate the impact of the Houthis’ coup against legitimacy in Yemen by providing essential vaccines and medicines to prevent the spread of epidemics and diseases inside the country.

But the Houthis seek to spoil the lives of Yemeni citizens by stealing and looting this aid, whether medical or financial, either for themselves or to sell in the market at exaggerated prices in order to finance their suspicious activities in the country.

Sources affiliated with WHO in Yemen stated that the Houthi militia stole all the supplies of the routine vaccination campaigns that are carried out in the areas it controls.

In addition, the militia stole 600 million Yemeni riyals ($2.4 million) in aid from the international organization supporting the polio vaccination campaign for children in Sanaa, which was scheduled to take place from December 23-25.

One million cases of cholera

The Houthi militia continued to steal medicines, vaccines and treatments provided to the Yemeni people through international organization such as WHO, and this has started to have a noticeable effect on the country’s citizens.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that the number of people suspected of having cholera in Yemen is reported to have reached one million citizens in 2018, which means that the percentage is greater, considering those who have not been reported.

The UNHCR added on November 26 that it has worked to support and assist its local partners in teaching more than 26,000 Yemenis how to protect themselves from cholera and what steps to take to deal with the disease if its symptoms appear.

This statistic confirms what WHO had announced in the beginning of November, as it had reported that the number of cholera cases in Yemen amounted to 2.37 million between October 2016 and August 2019.

Suspended food and medical aid

There is a constant flow of UN reports that accuse the Houthi militia of stealing and looting humanitarian, food and medical aid provided to the Yemeni people by various international organizations.

A UN report on December 9 stated that the Houthi militia impedes the delivery of food and medical aid to about 6 million people who live in areas under its control, especially in Al-Dhale, Hajjah and Hodeidah, which negatively affects everyone’s lives, especially children.

The report pointed out that reaching civilians in these areas has become extremely difficult, which prompted the World Food Program in June 2019 to suspend its work in the areas controlled by the Houthis.

The Houthi militia has refused to approve 11 UN projects that were aimed at saving 1.4 million people at a cost of up to $32 million guaranteed by the United Nations, while the approval of other projects can take more than three months, which contributes to the death of many individuals, according to the UN report.