Armies of Liberation

(Corrected: My dyslexia or perhaps wishful thinking had the title as lowest when it should have read highest.)

In 2005 when i started paying attention to this stat, it was about 46% of children were physically stunted from malnutrition, and of course those numbers were higher in some areas specifically in Saada. And the sad reality is that now 58% of all Yemeni kids are too small for their age and many die of malnutrition.

Along with physical stunting often comes permanent brain damage, a lower IQ and cognitive faculties. Its important to reverse this trend ASAP through international cooperation and support: feeding centers, plump-n-nut, school lunches etc. The problem always was that the corrupt officials in the Yemeni regime stole the vast majority of international aid. Here in the new improved transparent Yemen, that should be less of a problem in theory. Many of the donors are in fact stepping up to the plate.

UNICEF official voices concern over child malnutrition in Yemen [24/January/2012] Saba: SANAA, Jan. 24 (Saba)- UNICEF Regional Director Maria Calivis concluded on Tuesday a two-day visit to Yemen where she saw first-hand the impact of malnutrition on children’s health.

“This year alone, half a million children in Yemen are likely to die from malnutrition or to suffer lifelong physical and cognitive consequences resulting from malnutrition if we don’t take action. Malnutrition is preventable. And, therefore, inaction is unconscionable,” Calivis said.

“Conflict, poverty and drought, compounded by the unrest of the previous year, the high food and fuel prices, and the breakdown of social services, are putting children’s health at great risks and threatening their very survival.”

With 58 per cent of children stunted, Yemen has the second highest rate of chronic malnutrition among children in the world after Afghanistan. Acute malnutrition affects as many as 30 per cent of children in some parts of the country, nearing the levels observed in south Somalia, and twice as high as the internationally recognized emergency threshold. (Read on …)

The pillaging of the economy continues:

From Chatham House, the full ( PDF report is here):
The recent political crisis in Yemen has created a cycle of hyperinflation, currency depreciation and disruption to the supply of basic goods. This is already having a serious impact on the 10.3 million Yemenis living in poverty, with the prospect of worse conditions to come.

Yemen’s economy is in thrall to a complex, intertwined network of elites that control the oil industry, imports, processing, and packaging and distribution of goods. Many members of these elite groups are key actors in the current crisis. (Read on …)

It was scary before. As of 2005, half of all kids were physically stunted from chronic hunger.

ADEN, 18 August 2011 (IRIN) – Continuing fighting in various parts of Yemen, which has recently displaced thousands of people especially in Abyan Governorate and the Arhab District of Sana’a, could compromise the nutritional status of those affected, especially children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns. This, it said, could potentially increase morbidity and mortality rates, especially among children under five.

“Yemen could become the next Somalia as child malnutrition is as big as it is in the Horn of Africa,” said Geert Cappelaere, a UNICEF representative in Yemen. While malnutrition was widespread in Yemen, the condition of many children had been worsened by displacement, he added. (Read on …)

PPO: About one-in-ten (9%) say they followed news about the anti-government unrest and violence in Yemen very closely. This was the top story for 2%. News about Libya and Yemen each accounted for 3% of coverage.

About a quarter of the public (23%) says the economy was their top story of the week, according to the latest News Interest Index survey conducted June 9-12 among 1,002 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. By comparison, 13% say they most closely followed news about Weiner’s admission that he sent sexually suggestive photos and messages to several women online.

Beeb: The UN has added two groups in Yemen and two in Iraq to its annual list of those recruiting or abusing children during armed conflicts.

During Yemen’s recent civil war, as many as 15% of the pro-government militia and 20% of the Huthi rebels were made up of children, the UN says.

Even though that conflict was now over, nobody knew where the children were, said a UN special representative.

The annual report said children were involved in warfare in 22 countries.

“2010 proved another tragic year for children in conflicts all over the world,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict

Many of these are internet cafes with multiple users. The population of Yemen is 24 million with half of those under 20 years old. Due to very high birthrates, the population is expected to double by 2034.

Yemen Post: The number of the internet subscribers increased in Yemen last year to 563299 people, up 107870 subscribers from 2009, a report by the Public Corporation for Wire and Wireless Telecommunication said. (Read on …)

Riyadh police round up 109 in clampdown on beggary
ARAB NEWS: Jan 21, 2011, RIYADH: Riyadh police rounded up 109 beggars in the capital city during the past week as part of an intensive campaign against beggary, authorities announced on Friday. A police official said most of those caught were foreign nationals….A survey conducted by UNICEF in 2007 found that up to half of child beggars in the Kingdom entered the country with their parents.

It is reported that Saudi authorities arrest each month around 3,500 Yemeni children who are smuggled into the country to work or beg.

Its not hidden, its just that no body talks about it.

JPost: According to Dr. Hisham Al-Nabhani, a psychiatrist at Al Amal psychiatric hospital, about six cases like Samir’s cross his door every month seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.

“They usually come after drinking for three or four years,” Al-Nabhani told The Media Line. “Most of them have high economic status, are the sons of military officers or businessmen who have money and therefore access to alcohol.”

Al-Nabhani said most of them had lived in Saudi Arabia for extended periods. (Read on …)

1.8 million are out of school, many work on family farms in addition to the half million street children. Poverty drives child marriage and child trafficking in addition to child labor.

Yemen Observer: More than 500 thousand children working in the streets

Article Date: Dec 20, 2010 – 4:19:37 PM

More than 500 thousand children are working in the streets, according to new statistics from the Central Bureau for Statistics. This number has been documented to the Social Affairs Ministry through several implemented surveys. (Read on …)

Yemen Post: Late last year, I met with the Minister of Water and he clearly said that it is impossible to end qat plantation in Yemen. He himself is known to have massive qat farms in Ibb region, while he admits that he would not stop qat plantation in his farms until the government gives him other options. The minister is saying that he wants options from the government in order to stop qat plantation, as if he is not in the government and responsible for this tragic file. He forgets that it is his duty to save Yemen from water depletion.

Yemen Chewers Spend $ 7 Million on Khat a Day: Yemeni people spend about $ 7 million a day on khat, a stimulus tree chewed by 75 per cent of males, compared to 33 per cent of women, an official has said.
(Read on …)

A public opinion survey that I’d like to see re-done by the Yemeni Polling Center with a few more than 8 of 20 provinces. Many of these results are contradicting an October 2010 survey on the political party system. Download the YPC file here, pdf: (Read on …)

One important issue that is not well understood regarding southern Yemen is the difference between loosely organized clans and cohesive tribes, a factor of rainfall levels. This article however discusses urban migration resulting from water shortages and the resulting impact on agricultural output.

Reuters: Farmers, 70 percent of the population, can no longer subsist on their own crops. Youths are flocking from the countryside to the cities in search of jobs to provide for their families. (Read on …)

The school systems like everything else in Yemen are hyper-politicized, with teachers and students unions thwarted from self-representation, soldiers on campus and attempts at reform derided as opposition propaganda. The curriculum is outdated, cheating rampant and scholarships are awarded on the basis of nepotism. And the graduates are mostly humanities majors, when societal demands are in other areas.

ARAB NEWS, Oct 22, 2010,
SANA’A: A recent government report warned that the number of unemployed graduates in Yemen is on the rise.

The report pointed out that thousands of university and secondary schools students with humanities majors who later struggle to find jobs are the reason for rising unemployment rates in the country. (Read on …)

SABA: SANA’A, Oct.12 (Saba)-The Cabinet discussed on Tuesday a report on the problem of overcoming in classrooms in public schools in the capital Sana’a and its negative effects on the quality of education.

The report, submitted by Minister of State and Capital Mayor Abdul-Rahman al-Akwa’a, pointed out the causes of the problem and its effects on the educational process as well as proposals of immediate and medium term solutions to address this problem.

The total number of classrooms required to reduce the problem is 4,271 classrooms, the report confirmed.

The report revealed that the rate of growth in the number of students, which reaches 55,000 students enrolled in the primary schools of the capital, and the non-expansion in establishing new schools are among the main reasons for this problem, as well as the internal migration from the various provinces to the capital, unprecedented urbanization in the outskirts of the capital, and the lack of land or sites to create or build new schools in some districts.

The average of density is 82 students per a classroom at the level of the capital’s schools, which amount to 290 schools and represent a rate of 2 percent of the country’s schools, the report indicated.

500,000 children in Yemen targeted in Back to School Campaign

SANA’A, Oct. 11 (Saba)- Half a million children in Yemen, including IDPs and refugees, were being targeted by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF in collaboration with UNHCR, Save the Children, CHF and other development partners, in a major Back to School Campaign. (Read on …)

terrorism: 4.6%

http://www.newsyemen.net/

More than 20 years to the emergence of political and party pluralism in Yemen, but that age did not satisfy them when the majority of Yemeni citizens in improving its image, which seems more negative, they do not care about policy as they like and did not give them something parties. (Read on …)

UNICEF and Government of Yemen jointly launch the First Inter-Agency Comprehensive Child Protection Assessment Report in Conflict Affected Areas in the north of Yemen:

Key Findings:
* 68% of children interviewed have been subjected to domestic violence
* 8% of all abused children have admitted exposure to sexual exploitation perpetrated by host communities, aid workers and others
* 7.9% of IDPs and affected families have had one child killed as a result of the conflict
* 10.3% of children of these families have been injured as a direct result of the fighting from both sides of the conflict
* 21% of children reported that they saw someone being injured or wounded
* 7.1% had witnessed someone being killed
* 10.2% of families reported that their children had been subjected to detention by both sides of the conflict
* More than 15% of the fighters from Al-Houthi and tribal militias are Children below 18 yrs.
* 2.1% of displaced and affected families have indicated that at least one of their children is still missing
* High illiteracy levels amongst care givers in displaced and affected regions, 73% of fathers and 85% of mothers are illiterate without appropriate learning or educational opportunities

Yemen Post

Water scarcity, population growth and internal conflicts are major reasons for food insecurity in Yemen, a recent report has said, warning if immediate action is not taken, food security will remain at extremely low levels until 2010 and the country will be vulnerable for external shocks and disasters.
The report issued by the Institute of Food Research (IFR) noted that food insecurity is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. (Read on …)

A nice solid report from the Yemen Times.

SANA’A, July 20 — The population of Yemen has multiplied five times in the last 54 years, and is predicted to triple again by 2035, according to the Health and Population Committee of the Yemeni Parliament.

The committee produced a report which was discussed earlier this month on the occasion of World Population Day, July 11, highlighting the dangers of rapid population growth in Yemen.

The report predicts that by year 2035 the country’s current 23 million inhabitants will have increased to at least 61 million, almost triple the size today. Yemen’s population growth rate is 3.7 while its fertility rate which is the average number of children for every Yemeni woman during her life time is 6.1.

Moreover, the infant mortality rate in the country is also considered one of the highest in the world at 53 deaths per every 1000 live births according to UNICEF’s 2008 statistics. Child mortality for children below five is also high at 69 deaths for every 1000 live births. The report also indicated that maternal mortality is quite high in Yemen as 365 mothers die while giving birth in every 100 thousand live births. (Read on …)

AFP SANAA — Officially, slavery was abolished back in 1962 but a judge’s decision to pass on the title deed of a “slave” from one master to another has blown the lid off the hidden bondage of hundreds of Yemenis. The judge in the town of Hajja, which is home to some 300 slaves, according to residents, said he had certified the transfer only because the new owner planned to free the slave. But his decision has triggered a campaign by local human right activists. (Read on …)