Angelina Jolie flies to Yemen to remind the world of “the forgotten war”

Angelina Jolie is in Yemenwhere it came as Special Envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Hollywood star, visiting a refugee camp, stopped to talk to Yemeni families who told her how the civil war, which has been going on for seven years now, has turned their lives upside down. It is a visit, that of Jolie, with which UNHCR hopes to draw attention to the continuing and growing humanitarian needs of the population of Yemen. The actress arrived on Sunday in the capital, Aden. And from there she posted images and videos with which she wanted to tell her 12.4 million followers about the drama of a “forgotten conflict”: “As we continue watching the horrors unfolding in Ukraine and we demand an immediate end to the conflict, they are in Yemen to support other people in dire need of peace. Here is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the worldwith one civilian killed or wounded every hour in 2022. A war-torn economy e over 20 million Yemenis who depend on humanitarian assistance to survive“.

The actress in her post compared the drama of Yemen to that of Ukraine. Soliciting compassion for both peoples: “This week one million people were forced to flee the horrific war in Ukraine. A shocking situation that teaches us one thing: we cannot be selective about who deserves our support and the defense of their rights. Everyone deserves the same compassion. The lives of civilian victims of conflicts have the same value everywhere. After seven years of war, the people of Yemen also need protection, support and, above all, peace ”.

The conflict in Yemen officially began between 25 and 26 March 2015. With an escalation of violence that is involving more and more fronts: from the clash between Shiite Houthi rebels and the recognized government of Aden, to the confrontation between pro-Saudis and separatists of the south, until the direct intervention of Saudi Arabia. As Amnesty International has long reported, the air strikes by Saudi Arabia against the positions of the Shiite Houthi rebels, perched in the south of the country, affect the population indiscriminately: in seven years of war over one hundred thousand civilians would have died. Life in Yemen today is impossible: millions of Yemenis lack food, clean water, sanitation and health care.

Angelina Jolie she flew over there to remind the world that today the drama of Ukraine is mourning that even in Yemen civilians are on the brink. AND we must not turn our backs even on the victims of this “forgotten war”.