When the UN children's rights organization UNICEF recently released a report stating that at least one child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen, the expectation was that the news would be picked up by international news outlets. But barring a few exceptions, including Al Jazeera and DW, the news was not carried by much of the global media prominently, and some not at all.
In its report, the humanitarian organization estimated that more than 400,000 Yemeni children are at risk of starvation, and a further 2.2 million are in need of urgent care. How could it be that statistics this alarming, the result of a war involving regional superpowers with the backing of the US and UK, does not make headline news? [...]
It's not that the conflict isn't covered, but when it is, news outlets tend to focus on the 'Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia versus the Shia Iran proxy war' narrative which overlooks the country's deepening humanitarian crisis. [...]
"There isn't a direct or immediate threat coming to western countries from Yemen," Baraa Shiban, a London-based Yemeni human rights activist, tells DW. "There are no 'waves' of Yemeni refugees crossing the Mediterranean because it's too far and if there are refugees they remain few in numbers. This is also related to the threat western countries feel they are facing. Dealing with the 'Islamic State' (IS) tops the list for western politicians. IS has claimed attacks inside Europe and such attacks could happen again. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been busy hitting inside Yemen - recently killing soldiers in Aden - but it's limited in its ability to hit in Europe or the US."
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