‘Disabled Yemenis Suffering Most in Saudi-Led War’

Date: 03 December 2019 - 21:45

News ID: ۷۳۴۸۱

SANAA (Press TV) – Amnesty International has raised the alarm about the dire situation of millions of people with disabilities in Yemen, saying they are hit the hardest by a years-long Saudi-led military campaign against the impoverished state.
In a report, entitled "Excluded: Living with disabilities in Yemen’s armed conflict”, the London-based rights group called on international donors to address the suffering of at least 4.5 million disabled Yemenis amid the bloody Saudi-led war.
The report was published on Tuesday as the world marks the International Day of Disabled Persons.
"Yemen’s war has been characterized by unlawful bombings, displacement and a dearth of basic services, leaving many struggling to survive. The humanitarian response is overstretched, but people with disabilities — who are already among those most at risk in armed conflict — should not face even greater challenges in accessing essential aid,” said Rawya Rageh, senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International.
"International donors, the United Nations, and humanitarian organizations working with the Yemeni authorities must do more to overcome the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from meeting even their most basic needs,” she added.
The report is based on a six-month research, including visits to three southern Yemeni provinces and interviews with nearly 100 people.
Many of those interviewed said they undertook exhausting displacement journeys without wheelchairs, crutches or other assistive devices, adding that such equipment is in very short supply.
Migdad Ali Abdullah, an 18-year-old with limited mobility and difficulties in communicating, described as "torturous” his trip alongside his family from Hudaydah to Lahij in early 2018.
Saudi Arabia and a coalition of its vassal states launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a Riyadh-backed former regime.
The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has plunged Yemen into "the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” according to the United Nations.
The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the Saudi war has claimed more than 100,000 lives so far.