Human cost of Yemen war laid bare as civilian deaths near 100,000
As the court of appeal prepares to rule on the legitimacy of the British government’s continued supply of weapons to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, new figures show the conflict’s death toll is fast approaching the 100,000 mark.
With no clear resolution in sight, the extent of civilian casualties caused by direct targeting as the war with Houthi rebels enters its fifth year has been outlined in a report by the the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled).
The project claims to provide the most comprehensive evaluation of the war to date, extending its previous research into fatalities to cover the start of the Yemen conflict in March 2015 through to the present day,
Clionadh Raleigh, Acled’s executive director, said the data provided “an estimate of the war’s true toll for the first time”.
“The data is both a tool and a warning,” said Raleigh. “The international community must use it to help understand, monitor, and ultimately resolve the conflict before the situation spirals even further out of control.” [Continue reading…]