Associated Press “World faces worst humanitarian crisis since 1945, says UN official” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/11/world-faces-worst-humanitarian-crisis-since-1945-says-un-official
国連のステファン・オブライエン人道問題担当事務次長*1は、世界は2000万人が飢餓で死ぬ可能性がある「1945年以来最悪の人道的危機」（飢饉）に直面していると国連安全保障理事会で語った。 懸念されているのは、南スーダン、ソマリア、イエメン、ナイジェリア。その中でも最も危惧されるのはイエメン*2であるという；
なお、「飢饉（famine）」の定義――”UN and food organisations define famine as when more than 30% of children under age 5 suffer from acute malnutrition and mortality rates are two or more deaths per 10,000 people every day, among other criteria.“
“Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations [in 1945],” O’Brien said. “Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine.”O’Brien said the largest humanitarian crisis was in Yemen where two-thirds of the population ― 18.8 million people ― need aid and more than seven million people are hungry and did not know where their next meal would come from*3. “That is three million people more than in January,” he said.
Yemen is engulfed in conflict as Saudi Arabia and Iran wage a proxy war in the Arab world’s poorest nation. O’Brien said more than 48,000 people fled fighting just in the past two months.
During his recent visit to Yemen, O’Brien said he met senior leaders of the Saudi-backed government and the Tehran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa, and all promised access for aid.
“Yet all parties to the conflict are arbitrarily denying sustained humanitarian access and politicise aid,” he said, warning if that behaviour did not change “they must be held accountable for the inevitable famine, unnecessary deaths and associated amplification in suffering that will follow”.
For 2017, O’Brien said $2.1bn was needed to reach 12 million Yemenis “with life-saving assistance and protection” but only 6% has been received so far. He announced that secretary-general Antonio Guterres will chair a pledging conference for Yemen on 25 April in Geneva.
*1:http://www.stephenobrien.org.uk/ See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_O%27Brien
*2:イエメン国内の紛争状況についてはhttp://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110220/1298219880で言及したことがある。
*3:See Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Ahmad Algohbary “Yemen's food crisis: 'We die either from the bombing or the hunger'” https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/08/yemen-food-crisis-we-are-broken-bombing-hunger
