At least 21 child cancer patients in Yemen have died and dozens more were seriously ill after being given an expired cancer treatment in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa, a government official and activists told The National.
Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been at war for eight years. The conflict has battered the country's health sector., leaving only half of Yemen's health facilities functioning.
Those in need of health assistance in 2022 will reach a whopping 21.9 million people, with 12.6 million in acute need, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO estimates that 4,300 children are currently diagnosed with cancer in Yemen this year.
“The Houthi militias injected more than 50 child cancer patients with an expired dose of treatment in Kuwait Hospital, which led to the poisoning and deaths of more than 21 children so far,” said a statement given to The National by the Yemeni coalition of independent women.
A vigil was held in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva by activists and relatives of the children on Tuesday evening.
“We consider this to be a crime against humanity, and international action must be taken to punish the criminals among the militia leaders,” the statement said.
Families of the children have been subjected to extortion, pressure and threats by the Houthis “to not speak out against them”, it said.
“The rebels have attempted to hide the crime and to protect those involved in the operation that was headed by the Houthi Health Minister, Taha Al Motwakil,” it said.
As the economy collapses and imports are restricted, medicines and equipment that are readily available in other countries are scarce in Yemen.
Yemen's Deputy Human Rights Minister, Majed Al Fadhil, told The National the rebels have been exploiting the assistance of international groups with health supplies and are diverting it to “their own benefit”.
“They have been smuggling expired medicine through companies owned by their leaders and are selling them in the local markets which is generating the group a lot of money,” he said.
The actions that the rebels are committing are considered “mass killings in areas under Houthi control”
“The militias have killed more than 20 children after administrating contaminated cancer medicine that they have disturbed to a number of hospitals under their control,” Mr Al Fadhil said.
“They are depriving adequate cancer treatment to those that desperately need it.”
The Yemeni official said the “silence” of the international community about these crimes are encouraging the rebels to commit further violations against the Yemeni population.
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In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
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She appeared with Keir Starmer on Wednesday and the pair embraced but he failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
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Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
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November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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