Britain says its mistakes worsened Yemen Famine

The UK government has said that its mistakes caused food to be “taken off the plate” of Yemeni children as the country was forced into famine, The National reported on February 5th.

International Development Minister Annaliese Dodds said that the former Conservative government’s almost £4 billion cut in 2021 development aid overseas had a deeply negative effect on projects, especially in the Middle East and Africa.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson spearheaded the aid cut and pointed the finger at Britain’s economic challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dodds criticised the Conservative party and told parliament’s international development committee that the cut was “damaging” and led to a period of chaos.

Dodds told MPs: “This had a direct impact on that programme, and we’re determined not to see a return to that chaos, to have a much longer-term approach.”

Decades of civil war has pushed Yemen, home to 24 million, into a humanitarian crisis, reported the UN World Food Programme. Starvation is also a key problem, with more than half the population, 18 million Yemenis, not knowing when or if they will eat their next meal. According to UNICEF, a staggering 2.2 million children in Yemen are acutely malnourished and almost half a million children are facing severe acute malnutrition.

At least 90,000 children have already died of starvation in Yemen.

While speaking to The National committee, chairwoman Sarah Champion said she was worried about the aid cuts effecting the funding of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, that helps finance vaccinations to vulnerable children and adults around the world.

“It vaccinates children and stops very many from dying,” Champion said. “It is a real concern that funding for Gavi might be cut.”

In response to questions about the UK’s contribution to ending worldwide hunger by 2030, Dodds was adamant that she wanted to see a “restoration of the UK’s reputation on international development” but said that the government was waiting to see the “implications of the US funding pause.”

The National, UNICEF, UN World Food Program USA