By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – The Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa at the UN International Organization for Migration Othman Belbeisi on Wednesday highlighted the resilience of Yemini people, the deepening humanitarian crisis, and the urgent need for global action.
He noted that 10 years of long war, Yemenis have been putting their lives on hold through airstrikes, through hunger, through loss.
The war has left Yemen’s infrastructure in ruins and its people exhausted. And yet, as the eleventh year begins, the world seems not to notice Yemen’s plight, he said.
He noted 20 million people in Yemen depend on aid to survive.
Over 5 million remain displaced, pushed from one place to another by violence or disaster, Othman Belbeisi added.
The international community has switched its focus to new emergencies. But for those who work in Yemen and for those who live this crisis every day the story is far from over, he declared.
Othman Belbeisi, said no one feels this reality more deeply than our Yemeni colleagues, who have remained at their posts through it all to help their own people.
Many have worked through airstrikes, instability, and loss, all while worrying about the safety of their families.
He noted that rising tensions and deepening funding cuts, they fear for their jobs too. Unlike most of us, they don’t have the option to simply start over.
They can’t rely on savings or opportunities elsewhere – their passport alone often determines how far their future can stretch.
Othman Belbeisi stressed that this is the daily reality in a country that, too often, is reduced to headlines about war.
Yemen is so much more than a crisis zone. It is a place of stunning landscapes, ancient cities, rich traditions, warm hospitality and the kind of food that stays in your memory long after you’ve left.
But these aren’t the stories that make headlines.Yemenis are seen only through the lens of conflict and poverty. It’s time we remember the people behind the statistics, he said
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world is getting poorer not because of its people, but because the world is slowly turning its back.
The war didn’t start yesterday, but its consequences grow heavier by the day.
Yemenis are not to blame for what is happening in the world, and yet, they bear the weight of it all.
They don’t need our pity – they need our solidarity. Let this be the year we turn empathy into action, he said.
Othman Belbeisi urged the international community gathers in conferences, makes pledges, and sets priorities, Yemen must not be left behind. Yemenis are not just victims.
They are survivors, caregivers, builders, teachers, mothers, fathers, and children with hopes and ambitions like anyone else.
He concluded that words alone will not keep people safe, fed, or sheltered. Don’t let these conversations remain just talk Yemen needs action. To look away now would not just be a failure of diplomacy it would be a failure of humanity, he added.
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