Amnesty warns US Aid cuts could risk millions of Yemenis

Amnesty International issued a warning on April 10th, stating that US President Donald Trump’s cuts to aid would leave millions of Yemenis at risk of losing life-saving support, with malnutrition and hunger expected to rise sharply. 

According to The Middle East Eye, Diala Haidar, Amnesty International’s Yemen Researcher, stated “the abrupt and irresponsible cuts in US aid will have catastrophic consequences on Yemen’s most vulnerable and marginalized group the cuts as “abrupt and irresponsible.”“ 

“Unless the US immediately reinstates sufficient funding for lifesaving aid to Yemen and ensures the money is disbursed expeditiously, an already devastating humanitarian situation will further deteriorate, and millions of people in Yemen are going to be left without desperately needed support,” she added. 

A United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs assessment, released in January, reported that around 19.5 million people in Yemen depend on humanitarian aid and protection services.  

This represents half of the population, with a decade of civil war and airstrikes exacerbating the crisis, putting millions of Yemenis at risk without US aid. 

In January, the Trump administration imposed a 90-day ban on all US foreign aid, though on April 9th, the State Department reversed food aid cuts in Somalia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Ecuador.  

However, the ban on Afghanistan and Yemen remains in place. 

The cessation of aid was a major blow to Yemen, where the US is the largest donor.  

In 2024, the US contributed $768 million to Yemen’s humanitarian efforts, which made up half of the country’s coordinated response plan. 

Amnesty reported that the freeze has already led to the closure of numerous safe spaces for Yemeni women and girls, which were established to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. 

Just two days after taking office, Trump re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation.  

This decision led to USAID severing ties with any groups that funded or supported the Houthis or obstructed international efforts to address the group’s actions. 

The Biden administration reversed this designation in 2021 and suspended US offensive military support for Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis.  

The conflict in Yemen subsided after a UN-brokered truce between Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni allies and the Houthis in April 2022. 

However, following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7th October 2023 and the ensuing Gaza war, the Houthis began attacking Israeli, American, and European vessels in the Red Sea, claiming it was in solidarity with Palestinians.  

Over 50,000 Palestinians have died since the war began. 

Despite a brief ceasefire in Gaza, hostilities resumed in March, with Israel launching new airstrikes.  

The US also started bombing Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen.  

The Houthis control much of Yemen’s northeast, including 80 percent of the population 

Amnesty warned that the US bombing campaign, coupled with the aid cuts, would create a double blow for Yemenis, who have already endured a decade of conflict. 

“Hungry, displaced, and exhausted by violence, people in Yemen already lived in one of the most dire humanitarian crises in the world,” Haidar stated.  

“The military escalation in Yemen, along with the US aid cuts, will compound the humanitarian disaster already facing a population still reeling from the long-standing conflict,” she added.  

“As of April 2025, only 6.9 percent of the plan had been funded.” 

Amnesty International. Middle East Eye. Maghrebi