Latest news with #RameshRajasingham
Yemen Online
3 days ago
- Health
- Yemen Online
Yemen : OCHA urges Security Council to prevent starvation
Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen by Ramesh Rajasingham, OCHA Director of Coordination, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator New York, 12 August 2025 As delivered Thank you, Mr. President. I thank Special Envoy Grundberg for his briefing and update, and this Council for its sustained interest in Yemen. At the outset, let me reiterate that a political solution remains the only sustainable, concrete path towards a more secure and prosperous future for all people in Yemen. Without it, current cycles of violence – local and regional – along with economic devolution and endemic humanitarian need, will persist. The crisis in Yemen is a political crisis with a staggering impact on millions of people and their communities – people who do not choose who controls the areas where they live. Humanitarian assistance can work to keep people alive, but only a political solution can make them safe. Mr. President, Last month, OCHA provided this Council with an update on the deteriorating state of food security in Yemen. The numbers bear repeating: More than 17 million people are going hungry. This figure may crest 18 million by February next year. Women and children bear the brunt of this disaster. Yemen is now one of the most food insecure countries in the world. As the economy continues to collapse and pressures on the food pipelines mount, many households with access to food can no longer afford it. Livelihoods across the public sector and agriculture and fisheries industries, among others, have been disrupted by ongoing conflict. Mr. President, It is all too easy to reduce Yemen's crisis to numbers. But let us consider what 'food insecurity' means today for ordinary Yemenis. Half of the nation's children under the age of 5 suffer from acute malnutrition, and nearly half suffer from stunting. This means developmental delays and infections, and a risk of death from common illnesses nine to 12 times higher than average. In a context where healthcare is desperately inadequate, and where support services are unavailable to many, this is a life-or-death gamble for children. For nine-month-old Ahmed in Abs district in Hajjah governorate, lack of food and nutrients left him less than two thirds of a healthy weight, so frail that he couldn't sit up and suffering from severe diarrhea and a high fever. His mother, Hafsa, was doing her best under appallingly difficult circumstances, but Ahmed still required emergency treatment for severe acute malnutrition, complicated by infection. And all this at nine months of age. This is not an isolated story. It is the daily reality for thousands of families and their children. They deserve better. In some locations, hunger and malnutrition are extreme. In camps for internally displaced persons in Abs District of Hajjah governorate, for example, a needs assessment mission in July found children from displaced families dying of starvation. These are children who have died not from war wounds, but from hunger – slow, silent and preventable. This is the human face of food insecurity. Hunger forces people to have to make terrible decisions – 'negative coping strategies,' as we frequently refer to them. But what does this mean in real human terms? In rural areas of the governorates of Al Mahwit, Al Hudaydah and Sana'a, it means families are having to sell off everything that would sustain their livelihoods in the long term – livestock, tools, their agricultural land – just to afford food for tomorrow. It means that children are forced to work instead of going to school. And it means that women and adolescent girls face heightened risks of domestic violence, exploitation or child marriage. In these three governorates alone, more than 30,000 women and girls have sought support services for gender-based violence just in the last six months. Nearly one third of women now aged 20 to 24 were married before they were 18. Nearly one in 10 were married before they turned 15. Among girls in displaced communities, those figures are even higher. These families and these girls also deserve better. Mr. President, Starvation is preventable. And humanitarian organizations remain on the ground despite limited resources and operational challenges, with the singular goal of reaching those most at risk before it is too late. After receiving alarming information of the acute food insecurity and malnutrition situation in IDP camps in Abs district last month, for example, the humanitarian system – including UN, INGOs, local NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crecent Movement – quickly mobilized to provide life-saving interventions. Humanitarian partners have prioritized the food response to 8.8 million of the most at-risk people – all in emergency or catastrophic situations. It will come as no surprise that such efforts require support –
Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Israel's ‘Vietnam'?
Israel's Gaza takeover plan has aroused a great deal of froth and indignant verbiage at the UN and in many countries of the world. To take a representative sample, UN Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the UN Security Council on August 10, 2025 that the plan risks another calamity with far-reaching consequences reverberating across the region, causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction. The UN's humanitarian office OCHA said 98 children had died from acute malnutrition since the start of the conflict in October 2023, with 37 deaths since July 2025, figures that are probably a gross underestimate. OCHA's Coordination Director Ramesh Rajasingham says, 'This is no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple.' People do not need this belated description of events in Gaza when they are confronted daily by pictures of emaciated children in hospitals being cared for by distraught but incredibly calm mothers. Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said 'over two million victims are enduring unbearable agony', while Israel's plans for the takeover of Gaza City are 'illegal and immoral'. All this diplomatic huffing and puffing is taking place in the hallowed halls of the UN in New York, where the Security Council is meeting to address the issue of Israel's plans for Gaza. Notable absentees at the meeting are the veto-bearing US and its ally Israel, both berating even this articulate waterfall of words, which nevertheless remain as hollow as the shameful inaction by Arab and Muslim countries in solidarity with their oppressed Palestinian brothers and sisters. Some of these worthy neighbours of Israel continue to enjoy diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and others even feel little or no compunction in entering into lucrative trade and economic deals with the Zionist entity. So much for Muslim solidarity. The death toll (probably an underestimate) since October 2023 has climbed to 61,430, most of whom have been killed while seeking food at aid centres. All the hot air emanating from Palestine's original Muslim supporters and, lately, Western capitals finally appalled at Israeli cruelty and falling back on the moribund 'two-state solution' for fear of worse, cannot and will not change an iota of the misery and suffering of the people of Gaza. Only action will. There has been unceasing talk, and protests by people in Western countries, to boycott Israel in arms and the economy, on the lines of the boycott that so successfully hollowed out South Africa's apartheid regime. But this holy campaign has yet to see the light of day in any meaningful sense, misgivings and vows of cutting off arms supplies by Germany and others of late notwithstanding. Benjamin Netanyahu's plan is to take over Gaza City and another area not yet fully in the control of the Israeli army to destroy Hamas and rescue the remainder of the Israeli hostages still with Hamas. But even his own military chief has expressed strong reservations regarding the plan, fearing the hostages will be lost and the Israeli army bogged down in a protracted guerrilla war with Hamas. He was firmly overruled by Netanyahu and has now agreed to implement the plan. The far-right in Netanyahu's Cabinet wants the plan to be strengthened and made more rigorous. It feels the plan does not go far enough. By this they mean their desire to capture Gaza and eject the Palestinians. Netanyahu's 'short timetable', destruction of Hamas and rescue of the hostages are all likely to fail. The Israeli military's professional assessment is probably nearer the mark. Netanyahu intends, if his plans succeed, to impose a government in Gaza composed of neither Hamas nor the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). He is hoping to impose a government of the elements opposing Hamas, composed mostly of bands of Bedouin criminals. Hamas has clearly messaged that any such collaborationist regime imposed on Gaza will be treated as an arm of the Israeli enemy. Interestingly, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in an interview has put a new twist on Israel's plans for Gaza. He thinks the invasion of Gaza risks turning into a 'Vietnam' for Israeli soldiers. That is surely not a fate Israel's main unremitting supporter the US would wish to see replicated and visited on its beloved Zionist 'pet'. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Sharjah 24
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sharjah 24
UNSC holds emergency meeting on Israel's Gaza strategy
'If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza,' said UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca, citing the potential for widespread displacement, death, and destruction. Escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza The UN's humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported that 98 children have died from acute malnutrition since the war began in October 2023, with 37 deaths since July alone. 'This is no longer a looming hunger crisis — this is starvation, pure and simple,' warned Ramesh Rajasingham, OCHA's director of coordination. Palestinian UN Envoy condemns Israeli plan Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour labeled the Israeli strategy as "illegal and immoral" and emphasized the unbearable suffering of over two million civilians in Gaza. He also called for foreign journalists to be allowed into Gaza to report on the situation. In response, Netanyahu announced a plan to allow limited foreign media access, but only accompanied by the Israeli military. International reactions and calls for sanctions UK warns of prolonged conflict While a traditional ally of Israel, Britain supported the emergency session, with Deputy Ambassador James Kariuki warning that the plan would only "deepen Palestinian suffering" and prolong the conflict. US defends Israel's right to security The United States criticised those supporting the meeting, accusing them of "actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel." 'Israel has a right to determine what is necessary for its security,' said US envoy Dorothy Shea. Algeria and Palestine call for sanctions Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama urged the Security Council to impose sanctions on Israel, calling it the "enemy of humanity." Palestinian Ambassador Mansour echoed the call: 'If it was another country, you would have been imposing sanctions a long time ago.' Protests outside UN Headquarters As the session took place, a small but vocal protest gathered outside the UN in New York, calling for an end to the war in Gaza. The demonstration was met with a significant police presence.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
UN ambassadors discuss Israel's Gaza City seizure plan
The UN security council met on Sunday after Israel said its military would "take control" of Gaza City. Many of the UN's ambassadors condemned Israel's plans, including the coordination director of the OCHA, Ramesh Rajasingham, who said a "further human toll" would be taken if they were carried out
