Economy & Politico

80% of Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid: ICRC official

The head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen, Katrina Ritz said in an interview with Mehr News Agency that ICRC has about 10 offices across Yemen, where approximately 800 employees work.

She pointed to the different activities that the ICRC offices do in Yemen, saying they provide help to Yemeni refugees, and people who have been detained and imprisoned, and they also provide help in identifying the Yemenis who have been killed in the war with forensic services as well as assisting the families of the people who are missing.

Ritz said that there are some exceptions from the sanctions for the ICRC in Yemen and that’s why the organization can still import into the impoverished country some medical and other items despite the embargo.

Meanwhile, she pointed out that the Red Cross, like other humanitarian organizations, is affected by the sanctions and the blockade.

According to her, the blockade on Yemen not only affect humanitarian activities but also the activities of private businesses, thereby indirectly affecting civilians.

Elsewhere in the interview, the head of the Yemeni ICRC office stressed the need for an immediate end to the 8-year-old conflict in Yemen and reaching a political solution.

She noted that almost 80% of Yemeni people are in need of receiving humanitarian aid in one way or another.

Ritz went on to assert that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the ICRC hold many discussions about various dimensions of humanitarian activities to discuss the situations in Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Yemen.

She went on to point to the dire economic situation in Yemen and said that economic collapse has forced the Yemeni families not to send their children to school and instead they force them to assist the family with making a living.

She also pointed to the other difficulties that the conflict has created for the Yemenis such as the huge number of landmines planted on roads and other areas, which come at a very high human cost for the people of the impoverished country.

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source: en.mehrnews.com

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