DUBAI: Amnesty International warned Thursday that sweeping US aid cuts, compounded by air strikes on Houthis, will have dire consequences for the people of Yemen, more than half of whom rely on assistance to survive. In January, US President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid pending a review, after which Washington announced the cancellation of 83 percent of programs at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The cuts risk deepening one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, Amnesty said, with the United States having been Yemen’s largest humanitarian donor for years. Citing aid workers, the organization said slashing funding “has led to the shut-down of life-saving assistance and protection services”.

This includes treatment for malnutrition in children, services for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and other healthcare services for children. Dozens of safe spaces for battered women and girls have also been closed, Amnesty said, warning that multiple facilities providing reproductive health services or protection for women were also at risk.

“The abrupt and irresponsible cuts in US aid will have catastrophic consequences on Yemen’s most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, children and internally displaced people,” said Diala Haidar, Amnesty International’s Yemen researcher. “Millions of people in Yemen are going to be left without desperately needed support” if aid cuts are not reversed, she said.

The US has provided half of Yemen’s coordinated humanitarian response plan, granting $768 million dollars worth of support in 2024 alone, Amnesty said. “We’ve been forced to make life and death decisions on little to no information. Often there is no one to speak to because USAID has been gutted,” one aid worker told Amnesty. Rebel-held areas have seen near-daily US strikes since March 15, when Washington launched an air campaign against the Houthis to stop them attacking vessels in the key Red Sea shipping route. “Hungry, displaced and exhausted by violence, people in Yemen already lived in one of the most dire humanitarian crises in the world,” Haidar said. 

“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.” Last month, Washington re-classified the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, banning any interaction with the group that controls large swathes of Yemen. — AFP