Presenter: Ryan Sewell
Authors: Ryan Sewell
Faculty Advisor: Maritza Sotomayor
Institution: Utah Valley University
Yemen faces one of the most critical humanitarian crises in the world today. The UN has warned that nearly 400 thousand children may die of starvation in 2021 alone, and that more may die in coming years if immediate action is not taken. The goal of the study is to provide specific recommendations for actions to be taken by humanitarian institutions, the government of Yemen, the UN, and the US government, in an effort to reach the United Nations sustainable development goal 1, target 1.4 in this country by the year 2030. Being one of the poorest countries on the Arabian peninsula for decades, many studies have been conducted with similar goals to this one. This study compiles evidence from these other studies to determine what has worked and what hasn’t, in an attempt to provide a clear framework for which priority of actions should be taken. This compilation of studies concludes that the primary causes of poverty in Yemen are the destabilization of currency due to fiscal policy, the lack of infrastructure due to conflict and misallocation of resources, and the degradation of the country’s primary source of economic output, oil, due to external involvement in the Yemeni conflict, as well as adverse policy incentives. Humanitarian efforts since the conflict began in 2014 have been successful in temporarily helping the lives of many people, but long term sustainable development may only be achieved through stabilization of conflict and extreme policy changes. The results of this study call for the immediate and total cancellation of US support for the blockade on Yemen, the collaboration of humanitarian organizations with the government of Yemen to rebuild lost infrastructure, and for the Yemen government to reform policy to prevent adverse incentives and restabilize their currency.