At a time when violent military conflicts are gripping the world, news of human rights violations is making headlines everywhere.
However, there is one region of the world where the war is as old as it could get, children are being killed, but the country is still being ignored badly.
Yemen, the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia, is home to some of the most unfortunate children in the world.
Children in Yemen are Living the Misery
Over 47 children were either killed or maimed in Yemen’s civil war in the first two months of the current year.
The worst part of this is that children are being impacted the worst in this conflict, unlike other wars where minors have been escaping due to the “humanity” of aggressors.
This latest addition to children casualties brings the death toll of minor casualties in the Yemen war up to 10,000 since 2015 when the brutal military conflict started.
UNICEF, an institution that has now become a largely symbolic agency, noted that children are the “first and most to suffer” in the Yemen war.
Head to Head: Children in Ukraine have a Louder Voice than Those in Yemen
Just recently, Russian bombed children and maternity hospitals in Ukraine, and the event went viral, which echoed in the power corridors of the world.
But yet another persisting crisis was unfolding in Yemen that is not even the consequence of any recent attack. The drastic impacts on Yemen are due to the pervasive humanitarian crisis that is worsening the hunger crisis in Yemen.
Compared to at least 10,000 children deaths in Yemen, the Ukraine war had about 71 children dying died due to the conflict. The numbers are clearly indicating that the children of Yemen are getting impacted in the worst possible manner.
The problem arises that Yemeni children are getting killed due to Saudi Arabia’s offensive against Iran backed forces. By any extension, Saudi Arabia’s role can be traced to America as the subsequent American presidents tried to mend their relations with the Islamic kingdom.
The aggressor in the case of Yemen is Saudi Arabia, and the aggressor in the case of Ukraine is Russia. Now comes the most interesting part.
How America is Constructing the Narrative for Human Rights
The United States has been hypocritical about the developments in Ukraine and imposed draconian sanctions on Russia, which are eventually impacting the Average Russian instead of Vladimir Putin. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is backed by the United States funding, so the question of American favoritism in the case of Ukrainian children is surely unmatched.
Instead of disarmament of Saudi forces, the subsequent American president eventually ended up backing the country despite knowing that it was involved in bombing Yemeni children.
This is not the first time that the western world is adopting a hypocritic role in distinguishing the countries equally hit by the war.
Most European nations closed their border for Afghan refugees and were reluctant to bring Israel to justice when it started an indiscriminate wave of bombing on Palestine. However, once Russia invaded Ukraine, all of them backed Ukraine because of the so-called humanitarian crisis.
The same humanitarian crisis was absent in the case of smaller countries, where millions of children are still gasping for food.
This behavior of states can be defined by the realist theory of international relations. Disenfranchising Russia and eliminating it from the global world order is a thing that America wants to achieve.
For this purpose, America is getting the leverage of Europe which hosts thousands of American missiles. So for Europe, taking sides in this conflict is a necessity rather than an choice.
The actual number of killings for Yemeni children are much higher compared to what the United Nations has been reporting, and this is the universal consensus.
As the famous saying goes, “Injustice anywhere is the threat to justice everywhere,” these types of unjust practices by the western world against the third world and poor countries would only have negative consequences for the global perception of the western leader.
Just because the United States has much to gain by opposing Russia, it should not mean that the human rights violations by American allies should be ignored. Otherwise, the world would get further divided into different identities, which results in the onslaught of extremist groups.
Final Thoughts
The way the United States is opposing the Ukraine war, it should do the same in Yemen as well, or for that matter, in Palestine also.
America would go the same route if China invades Taiwan, but the country would surely face American brunt just because China is the frontline enemy of the United States.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.