RPT: ANALYSIS - No Doubt UK Weapons Impacted Yemen's Health Crisis, COVID-19 Vulnerability

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd April, 2020) UK weapons used by Saudi Arabia in the ongoing conflict in Yemen have made a serious impact on the nation's likely ability to combat the spread of COVID-19, with the potential influx of the virus projected to further exacerbate the country's humanitarian crisis, experts told Sputnik.

According to a report by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) group, the UK government approved the sale of 5.3 billion Pounds ($6.6 billion) in arms to Saudi Arabia during the first four years of the Saudi-led coalition's operations in Yemen against the Houthi rebels that began in 2015, with a further 1 billion pounds in arms being delivered to the other members of the coalition.

These arms have played a vital role in attacks on Yemen's health care system, which campaigners state may also make the country more vulnerable to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization has already warned of the potential devastation that the coronavirus disease could have in Yemen, despite there reportedly being no confirmed cases of the disease in the country so far.

ATTACKS ON YEMEN'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

According to CAAT's spokesman Andrew Smith, health care facilities in Yemen have the target of strikes by the Saudi-led coalition.

"We know that health care facilities have been bombed, we know that tens of thousands of people have been killed and we know that the humanitarian crisis has already dragged health care facilities to breaking point," Smith told Sputnik.

UK warplanes are among the list of items purchased by Saudi Arabia for use in the ongoing clashes with Houthi rebels in Yemen. The CAAT spokesman also stated that the UK was supplying bombs and missiles for use in the conflict.

"There's no doubt that UK-made fighter jets have played a part in that and there's no doubt that UK-made bombs and missiles have played a part in that. These aren't just numbers, they have consequences and those consequences are brutal and deadly," Smith said.

The CAAT spokesman also claimed that a High Court ruling, handed down this past year, which prohibits the UK government from issuing additional arms export licenses for potential use in Yemen had not prevented the Saudi-led coalition from building up stockpiles of UK-made weapons, something that could involve the continued use of such armaments.

"Now at some point, those licenses will come to an end but there's going to be stockpiles of weapons which are with Saudi forces and a lot of them have been transferred under so-called open licenses so we don't know the full amount of how many bombs and missiles have gone over. So these could be used to deadly effect for potentially years to come," Smith said.

CAAT had fought and won their case in the Court of Appeal last year following an initial defeat in the High Court in 2017 that had then deemed UK arms sales for possible use in Yemen to be within the law. Appeal judges however ruled last June that it was "irrational and therefore unlawful" for the UK government to have granted arms export licenses for use in Yemen without properly scrutinizing their potential impact on civilians, a ruling that has effectively halted the issuing of additional licenses.�

However, that decision has no effect on weapons already stockpiled nor current "open" arms export licenses, a fact that has sparked concern over the continued use of UK arms sold to Saudi Arabia in a conflict that has already cost over 100,000 lives.

"The [2019] court victory banned exports going forward but what it didn't do is stop the arms already being transferred under existing licenses," Smith remarked.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced repeated pressure in the House of Commons, particularly from outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to come to terms with the impact of the country's arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and the devastation these weapons are causing in Yemen.

The controversy surrounding the use of UK arms to bomb Yemeni health care facilities could increase if COVID-19 begins to spread in the country. According to a March press release by the human rights group ReliefWeb, more than 2.3 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in Yemen since 2017, and the country's health crisis will only deteriorate further if faced with another epidemiological challenge.

Smith referred to the WHO's warnings of the potentially devastating impact that COVID-19 could have in Yemen, highlighting the attacks on health care facilities in the country.

"The warnings from the World Health Organization are that Yemen's vulnerability to a pandemic could be very severe. They've warned of a potential explosion of cases and a reason for that is not just that the health infrastructure has been destroyed but also the lack of access to clean water and the widespread destruction of other essential sanitation facilities," Smith said.

The alarm at the severity of the situation on the ground was shared by Osamah Alfakih, director of media, communications, and advocacy for the non-governmental organization Mwatana for Human Rights, who warned that the nation's health system was struggling even before the outbreak of armed conflict.

"It's a nightmare to imagine COVID-19 spreading in Yemen. Even before the current war, the health care system wasn't responding to the needs of the population in Yemen, and Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the world and the lowest human development indicators in the middle East and North Africa," he said.

This fact alone means that Yemen is likely ill-equipped to deal with the spread of COVID-19 as the ongoing conflict has placed a considerable strain on a health care system that was already failing to meet the population's needs, Alfakih said.

"The hospitals wouldn't be able to cope with the spread of COVID-19, and one of the contributing factors is the behavior of the warring sides," Alfakih stated.

Speaking on the role of foreign arms in the current conflict, Alfakih also claimed it was unfortunate that the Yemeni people had been introduced to such nations through the fact their "bombs were dropping on their heads." The NGO advocacy and communications chief added that major arms exporting powers such as the UK and France were partly responsible for the "man-made crisis" now taking place.

"The war doesn't only have an impact on the health system but it also has a huge impact on the Yemenis and the whole country. The warring sides undermine the lives of civilians and the state institutions, the expense of rule of law, empowering and emboldening different armed groups to seize control of different parts of Yemen," Alfakih stated.

The emergence of COVID-19 in many parts of the world has only added to the sense of apprehension endured by the general population. Although Yemen is not believed to have yet reported a single confirmed cases of the disease, the incapacity of much of the country's health infrastructure remains a source of anxiety for those likely to depend on it should the virus continue to spread.

"There are fear and panic among the people in general. For instance, big supermarkets are crowded with people who want to get food for the coming period in case the situation gets more deteriorated," Alfakih stated.

The NGO advocacy and communications director added that the difficulties of daily life in Yemen as a result of the conflict would also make it incredibly difficult for people to self-isolate, given the difficulties of earning a living in the country.

"It is very much difficult to imagine people staying at home if there are more measures taken because of the coronavirus, particularly those who get their income on a daily basis. In addition to all of this, people need to bear the war and its burden," Alfakih stated.

A separate report from Mwatana claimed that health workers and facilities have been targeted at least 120 times by the warring parties between 2015 and 2018, resulting in 96 civilian deaths and the wounding of several hundred.

Health care facilities are believed to have at times been damaged during airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, with a missile fired from a coalition aircraft destroying a petrol station in March 2019 that resulted in several fatalities in an adjacent hospital.

The opposition Houthi movement is also believed to have fired upon civilian targets both in Yemen and neighboring Saudi Arabia. The combined impact from the two sides on Yemen's health sector has proven severe, with more than half of hospitals now being closed, according to Doctors Without Borders.