Mukhtar Shaddad
The Ongoing Conflict in Yemen for Eight Years Has Led to Multiple Protracted Crises, Reflecting on the Provision of Public Services across Various Sectors Nationwide. Taiz Governorate Has Borne the Brunt of These Crises, Primarily Due to the City's Prolonged Siege Since the Start of the War.
The Group of International and Regional Experts on Yemen Affiliated with the United Nations Human Rights Council has described the situation as a form of collective punishment and a violation of international humanitarian law, as the siege has resulted in shortages of food, water, and medicine, as well as the deterioration of healthcare and education services in the city, and has contributed to the recurrent and persistent gas crisis.
According to the field survey report on community resilience published by the Youth Without Borders for Development Organization, there are 12 issues that the community is struggling with, which the state was expected to address and provide for citizens. The report indicates that the problem of high demand for houses and accommodation is constantly increasing, and 80% of the targeted sample do not have government electricity due to the shutdown of power plants. There is also a problem of high fuel prices and scarcity, as well as water scarcity. Additionally, 58% permanently suffer from difficulty accessing healthcare services, and 62% of the sample lack access to medicines.
The report also noted that 55% are unable to afford the costs of education, in addition to the limited availability of seats. Regarding the economic aspect, 62% of the respondents are unemployed. The report further added that the quality of the Internet is very poor, and its prices are high.
Due to the war, life in the city with the largest population density has stopped or nearly stopped. The war years, the first, second, and third (...) have passed, and now we are reaching the eighth year. The war has not ended, and peace has not prevailed, and electricity has not returned either, while the citizen continues to suffer with the commercial electricity whose prices are on an upward trend. For the return of government electricity, the people have gone out to the street many times to raise their demands before the competent authorities, but there is no voice for those who call.
In the early years of the war, providing water was a major burden on the citizens, but after eight years of war, this problem still exists. There is a complete lack of water supply service by the local authority, while before the war, there was water to every house. Where did that water that the state was supposed to provide go?! The citizens of Taiz suffer on a daily basis from recurring crises that have cast their shadows over the lives of the residents of the city, because the services provided by the state do not provide them with a decent living. There is no doubt that the local authority is trying to alleviate the severity of the problem, but this is not enough. The state must work harder to solve the problem in a radical way.
The observer of the state of public services provided by the competent authorities clearly realizes that these services provided do not rise to the required level and that there is a great shortage, weakness and negligence in providing the necessary services. Consequently, this situation is negatively reflected on the lives of the citizens in the city of Taiz. Let's look, for example, at health services, and you will find a kind of lack of serious attention from the concerned authorities in this regard.
All these issues require a serious stand from the official authorities and the local authority in the governorate, and focusing on benefiting from the lessons and recommendations contained in the study, which will effectively contribute to improving the quality of intervention by the official authorities and giving them a clear picture of the most prominent needs in the governorate, and the means to cover the existing gap in covering these services.
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