The World Food Programme (WFP) is one of the major suppliers of the foods needed to feed millions throughout the world. But new funding cuts have worried observers about the organization’s future in conflict-torn countries such as Yemen and Syria. And if the WFP were to withdraw from these countries, food security would suffer an enormous setback.
The World Food Programme (WFP) recently announced that it was suspending aid and distributions of food in Houthi-controlled areas of northern Yemen owing to a drop-off in funding and disagreements. The suspension scheduled for 2024 will have disastrous repercussions for Yemeni food security, a situation which already is appalling. This is also happening in Syria where WFP announced that it will cut food aid supply for this country. This is the seventh cut in aid to Syria and will impact food security. But the WFP will still continue to provide help for families affected by emergencies and natural disasters through targeted interventions. The overall reduction in food assistance, on top of an already serious situation, however, can only make things worse.
Yemen and Syria are already facing serious shortages of available food as a consequence of the conflicts in progress, economic difficulties, and people on the move. The WFP ‘food assistance programs, while helping to prevent starvation in the short term through direct distribution of food supplies, also help contribute towards improving overall levels of health and nutrition among all Syrians.
Following the decrease in food aid, health conditions are expected to deteriorate quickly. Malnutrition-related diseases will increase greatly inside prisons and there is little doubt that rates of illnesses like tuberculosis among prisoners who have been separated from their families for so long will worsen drastically. These failures take away the means of proper nutrition, and create immune systems predisposed toward illness. Increasingly strained medical services will be situated in a field drained of healthy energy while surrounded by bodies that are increasingly decadent rotten wastes.
Yemen, which is considered to be one of the world’s poorest nations and has struggled with severe food shortages since fighting began three years ago in what became known as its Land War since 2014, still remains a humanitarian emergency. If the WFP ceases to provide food assistance in Houthi-controlled areas, this will only worsen the calamitous hunger situation even further. The most vulnerable Yemenis children forced out of school by a lack of funds for fees and books or adults unable to buy medicine because it is too expensive will be left without any means whatever with which even begin repair As a result, the 9.5 million people today in need of aid will continue to be an alarming number; many more persons living on less than one naturalised daily are going up for grabs and can go into starvation or malnutrition easily at any time.
Food security and social are intertwined. In Yemen and Syria, the two countries where conflict has already destroyed livelihoods and shattered local economies. The withdrawal of this critical aid from WFP for hundreds of thousands of people will only further deepen the socio-economic crisis in those hardest hit places. If the result is desperation and hunger-driven despair, then it may lead to more widespread social unrest, violence or even mass migration both inside nations and across national boundaries. The ensuing instability would not only affect the countries involved, but it could have a devastating impact on regional stability and even global peace.
A gap that would be hard to fill WFP withdrawal a threat for both Yemen and Syria. The scale and complexity of the problem mean that other organizations or governments sweeping in cannot simply make up for WFP’s loss. The upshot for the affected populations would be more suffering, in addition to food insecurity. There also will be shortfalls in other essential services such as healthcare and education, safe drinking water supplies would fall farther into dire straits.
In conclusion, the World Food Programme’s possible pullout from Yemen and Syria would be disastrous for food security, health care, and stability in these war-wrecked countries. Therefore, the international community must admit to the fact that a crisis exists and increase its assistance in order for WFP can continue. Prospects for rescue Funding and political commitment must be sustained indefinitely to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, as well as the thin sparkle of hope brought to billions of people in Yemen and Syria. Hence, it is our moral duty to act quickly and forcefully in order to avoid this looming tragedy.
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations
References.
Al Jazeera. (2023, December 5). WFP suspends food distribution in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/5/wfp-suspends-food-distribution-in-houthi-controlled-areas-of-yemen
Suleiman, A. H., & Hezaber, H. (2023, December 7). World Food Programme to end general assistance in northwest syria. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/7/world-food-programme-to-end-general-assistance-in-northwest-syria
