ROME – Advisor to the Royal Court and General Supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah said that all Yemeni crossings controlled by the legitimate government are open to humanitarian assistance to Yemen, pointing out that the Kingdom offered the port of Jazan too, to be used for the same purpose, in addition to other crossings for delivery of relief and humanitarian aid to Yemen, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said Friday.
Speaking at a high-level meeting of the Partnership for Permanent Peace, in Yemen, which took place in Rome Friday, Al-Rabeeah condemned the attacks launched by the Houthi militias on United Nations aid and relief organizations and workers between 2015 and 2017, citing 16 cases of aggression, including killing, kidnapping, imprisonment, closing offices, looting and robbery, and closing the ports and offices of international organizations operating in Yemen.
They attacked and seized 65 ships, 124 relief convoys and 628 aid consignments, in violation of humanitarian action and laws, he added.
Stressing Houthi militias’ disruption of humanitarian efforts and targeting residential neighborhoods, humanitarian aid and humanitarian teams and tightening the siege on civilians, he said the importance of the United Nations and the international community lies in shouldering their responsibilities and taking to task the militias for their excesses that hinder humanitarian action and target civilians, in Yemen.
The center has not failed to provide assistance despite all the violations targeting aid provided by its teams and other teams working on the ground, he stated, adding that the center is well aware of its humanitarian role and is working diligently to provide humanitarian services to the Yemeni people, in order to help in overcoming the current crisis.
He also reviewed all the efforts made by the Kingdom for the sake of the Yemeni people, over the past two years and what it seeks to provide during the coming period, despite the difficulties facing it.
The total assistance provided by the Kingdom to Yemen from April 2015 to October 2017 amounted to $ 8.27 billion, indicating the center carried out specific operations, such as airdrops of food and medical aid, in Taiz and breaking the siege imposed by the coup militias.
Dr. Al- Rabeeah said that the center implemented 161 projects in all regions of Yemen through 86 local and international partners, including food security, nutrition, housing, health, community support, environmental sanitation and other projects.
The center provided Yemeni children with 80 projects in the fields of education, protection, food security, health, nutrition, water and environmental sanitation, as well as allocation of programs for Yemeni women through 68 projects, in the areas of protection, education, food security, health and sanitation, environment, nutrition and personal hygiene.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah stressed that all international and human rights laws prohibit and criminalize the use of children as tools of war or using them as human shields, he said. Houthi militias have recruited more than 20,000 innocent Yemeni children, according to human rights reports.
The Kingdom has made great efforts to curb the spread of cholera, in Yemen, he said, adding that the Ministry of Public Health, the Yemeni population, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have provided Yemen with more than $ 76 million, in this respect.
The center has also run a large convoy carrying more than 550 tons of medical appliances and solutions for all areas of Yemen, to fight the epidemic, indicating that percentage of the net has reached 99.5%, prompting many organizations working on land to close their centers of cholera treatment, in some areas.
He called on United Nations organizations and other humanitarian organizations operating in Yemen to decentralize humanitarian work away from relying on one city for its headquarters, in Yemen.
— SPA
