Dawn.com, United Nations :A United Nations expert has expressed concern over “deliberate starvation of civilians” in Yemen amid a decisive turn in the fighting between Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition.”As the conflict continues to escalate, over 12.9 million people in Yemen are now surviving without adequate access to basic food supplies, including six million who are deemed severely food insecure,” warned Hilal Elver, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a press release on Tuesday.The situation facing children in the country was particularly alarming, she stressed, with reports suggesting that 850,000 of them faced severe malnutrition – a figure expected to rise to 1.2 million over the coming weeks if the conflict persisted as its present level.Sieges in a number of governorates, including Aden, Al Dhali, Lahj and Taez, have been preventing staples, such as wheat, from reaching civilians while airstrikes have allegedly targeted markets and trucks laden with food items.”The deliberate starvation of civilians in both international and internal armed conflict may constitute a war crime, and could also constitute a crime against humanity in the event of deliberate denial of food and also the deprivation of food sources or supplies,” Ms Elver said.”The right to food does not cease in times of conflict, indeed it becomes more crucial as a result of the acute vulnerabilities in which individuals find themselves.”
