85,000 children in Yemen have starved to death: Report

Approximately 85,000 children under the age of 5 have died in Yemen from severe hunger since April 2015, according to a new report from Save the Children.

Using data gathered by the United Nations, Save the Children looked at the mortality rate of children under 5 years old who were treated for severe acute malnutrition and calculated that close to 85,000 of them have died between April 2015 and October 2018.

In a briefing in October, Mark Lowcock, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said nearly 14 million people in Yemen — or about half of the country’s population — are facing pre-famine conditions.

While a famine has not yet been declared, the United Nations warned that “there is now a clear and present danger of an imminent and great big famine engulfing Yemen — much bigger than anything any professional in this field has seen during their working lives.”

But Kristine Beckerle, a Yemen researcher for Human Right Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, said an official declaration of famine in Yemen is beside the point.

“The fact of the matter is people are dying now. Kids are dying now. Millions of people are going hungry now, in a context where, if states wanted to, they could in fact address the situation, minimize civilian suffering and mitigate civilian harm,” Beckerle told ABC News.

She added, “The U.S. could play a really important role here, if it were willing to spend the political capital to do so.”

Instead, the Trump administration released a statement on Tuesday siding with Saudi Arabia in the conflict, saying it will withdraw from Yemen as long as the Iranians agreed to leave.

The statement also highlights the $110 billion sale of U.S. military equipment to Saudi Arabia, equipment that the country uses in the conflict in Yemen.

Earlier this week, ABC News reported that Yemeni officials and Houthi rebels have agreed to attend peace talks in Sweden in an effort to end the civil war in the country.

Marcus Skinner, senior policy adviser for International Rescue Committee, told ABC News there is little evidence the talks could achieve a resolution in the conflict.

“The logic that you have this battle and then go to Sweden doesn’t really translate to what we see on the ground,” Skinner said. Changes will only come when there is diplomatic pressure by key world leaders like the United States and the United Kingdom, he added.

Exact number of fatalities in Yemen have been difficult to report for humanitarian groups and officials on the ground, with many hospitals being targeted by rebel groups.

“The war and violence need to stop for human suffering to stop,” Skinner said.