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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Children are dying of hunger in Yemen right now

80 replies

27pounds17 · 03/11/2018 12:18

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/02/end-war-yemen-children-conflict-escalates-around-hodeidah-hospital

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/children-dying-war-zones-targeted-impunity

AIBU to wonder how in this day and age this is still happening? What is the UK doing and are we selling arms to the region? It's absolutely heart breaking, what can we do?

From the article

Words cannot do justice to the moral depravity on display. Children are deliberately targeted for killing, abduction, rape and recruitment into armed groups. Others are treated as “collateral damage” in attacks on civilian infrastructure. Schools – and schoolchildren – are regarded as legitimate military targets. They are bombed in their classrooms or, especially if they are girls, assaulted for the crime of attending school. Obstructing humanitarian aid is now a standard military tactic, depriving children of access to food and medical aid

Sad Sad Sad

OP posts:
SBDB · 03/11/2018 12:20

The Saudis are mostly responsible for the bombing and we sell huge amounts of arms to them. Theresa May has asked for a ceasefire in the region but will continue to see arms!!

SBDB · 03/11/2018 12:20
  • sell not see
27pounds17 · 03/11/2018 12:27

How can fails like this as human it's barbaric.

OP posts:
nuttynutjob · 03/11/2018 12:39

I agree and the UK continues to arms trade with Saudis

Of course, we pass moral judgement to Israel to keep our conscience clear, innit

27pounds17 · 03/11/2018 13:54

wow Shock I wonder what the posting rate would be if the starving dc were in the UK and not in Africa.

AIBU to think that as only 2 people have posted we here in the UK are not that interested? Are we desensitised? Fake news wary? I am not blaming anyone as I wasn't aware of this myself and only read about it this week.

It's really depressing that we don't seem to be bothered.

OP posts:
neverlosehope2018 · 03/11/2018 14:48

I live in Egypt and it is constantly in the news here. I think that many people ignore humanitarian issues in the Middle East, it's the same with the Palestinians and how they are treated. I have a friend who regularly goes to Palestine and the things she has seen are appalling. I think many people have news fatigue in regards to the ME and also see the people as 'others', different and not like them so most aren't interested.
The fact that we are selling arms to the Saudi's is just disgusting.

Where I live there are lots of animals charities that have been set up mostly by British expats as there are a lot of strays here etc. There is also an Orphanage for children that have been abandoned, sometimes on the doorstep of the orphanage and sometime in bins. The animal charities get probably 100 times the donations of the Children's charity. If you were to see some of those little kids, so desperate for love that they all crowd around you to hug you. Quite frankly it breaks your heart. It's a topsy-turvy world that is for sure.

Bombardier25966 · 03/11/2018 14:53

I've been aware of it for some time. People don't care, it doesn't affect them.

The UK government are complicit in this. In supplying arms to the Saudis they are actively supporting their efforts. It's fucking disgusting.

TurkeyBear · 03/11/2018 14:58

I'm more concerned right now about how children are starving in this country and some equally don't have a pot to piss in. When we've sorted our own shit out maybe then focus on increasing spend elsewhere 🤷🏼‍♀️

Bombardier25966 · 03/11/2018 15:00

@TurkeyBear, you can be concerned about both. And this isn't about increasing foreign aid, it's about stopping supplying weapons to war criminals.

27pounds17 · 03/11/2018 15:03

www.mintpressnews.com/un-10-million-more-yemenis-expected-to-starve-to-death-by-end-of-year/242906/
Targeting food production and waging total war.

This is happening on our watch. I am unsure if I should donate to children in need because of the terrible abuse of money and power. I feel conflicted and hypocritical.

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” Andrew Marshall.

In other words The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing I am / we are doing nothing, what can I /we do?

Children are dying of hunger in Yemen right now
OP posts:
Mumminmum · 03/11/2018 15:04

There are children starving in the UK. Didn't you see that scary documentary a couple of years ago depicting how families on benefits live? A 14 year old girl with cancer was starving because she was too ill to go to school, so she couldn't get the free school lunches. Her mum was dead and her dad had been laid off for driving her (the DD) to her hospital appoinments. I always give food to food banks before we go on vacations, because I cannnot enjoy the vacation, if I suspect that at the same time some children from my children's school don't even hav enough to eat. We live in a good area, where not many people need the food bank. Sometimes our food bank donate to some of the other food banks who need it more.

RedneckStumpy · 03/11/2018 15:04

With the upcoming Brexit people are more concerned about how they will survive let alone people a thousand miles away.

There are lots of wars around the world, and selling arms is big business, I guess it’s just the way it is

27pounds17 · 03/11/2018 15:05

TurkeyBear that's classic whataboutery. Not to be crude but do children in the UK look like the child in the photo upthread?

hildren are deliberately targeted for killing, abduction, rape and recruitment into armed groups. Others are treated as “collateral damage” in attacks on civilian infrastructure. Schools – and schoolchildren – are regarded as legitimate military targets. They are bombed in their classrooms or, especially if they are girls, assaulted for the crime of attending school. Obstructing humanitarian aid is now a standard military tactic, depriving children of access to food and medical aid.

Briefly engaging with the ignorant whataboutary...... Are chdilren in the UK suffering the above? I's not a competition.

OP posts:
Mumminmum · 03/11/2018 15:06

The two donkey shelters in the UK get more funding that all the women shelters put together. If that isn't sick, I don't know what is.

Bombardier25966 · 03/11/2018 15:09

There are lots of wars around the world, and selling arms is big business, I guess it’s just the way it is

Profits over lives? Is that what you're saying?

Charley50 · 03/11/2018 15:12

The UK government should stop dealing with the Saudis, but it won't. People do protest about this. I don't know if a Labour government would continue to sell arms, or allow British companies to sell arms to them?

RedneckStumpy · 03/11/2018 15:15

Yes a large chunk of the world I think values money over life, I think parts of the works believes that survival is not a right and should be earned

haverhill · 03/11/2018 15:15

It’s almost beyond belief.
The recent charity scandals have left me unsure of who to donate to. Does anyone have any advice?
What else can we do?
And Jesus, Redneck. Look at the picture again.

neverlosehope2018 · 03/11/2018 15:16

It is possible to feel compassion for both the people in Yemen and the children living in poverty in the UK. We continue to arm the Saudi's but no one cares about Yemen. Probably because they are impoverished, always have been and there is no oil to be had. I'm sure the situation would be different if there was oil to be had. See how quick we were to get involved in Libya. I'm not suggesting we send foreign aid but stopping arms deals with the Saudi's would be a start.

Bombardier25966 · 03/11/2018 15:16

@Charley50 Labour have actively campaigned against an end to the Yemen conflict, and stated they would ban arms sales to Saudi.

neverlosehope2018 · 03/11/2018 15:17

Looking at those photos above reminds me of Ethiopia in the 80's. Where is Bob Geldof now?

Bombardier25966 · 03/11/2018 15:18

Yes a large chunk of the world I think values money over life, I think parts of the works believes that survival is not a right and should be earned

And what do you think? How do you suggest the Yemeni people earn their right to survival?

OpalIridescence · 03/11/2018 15:22

I think people really struggle to know what to do about it. What actually can a single person do? This is a serious question.

Even if I want to donate money I have no idea who the good guys are to donate to any more.

It is a terrible situation that this world is so unequal

RedneckStumpy · 03/11/2018 15:26

I think that civil society is a thin veneer. Once that goes humans fall back on primeval instincts for survival. In these war zones it becomes survival of the fittest.

You can see that in the UK when people fight over the TV’s in ASDA in Black Friday, imagine what they will be like when the food runs out.

It’s a sad sad situation.

PollyFlinderz · 03/11/2018 15:30

Op, why are you only realising this now because you’re a bit late with your outrage.