The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Yemen aid lifeline nears breaking point as UN food agency appeals for $870 million
More than $870 million is needed to sustain lifesaving aid to war-torn Yemen over the next six months, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, as UN humanitarians also warned that some projects were nearing “breaking point”.
“WFP needs $870 million to continue to deliver life-saving assistance to millions in Yemen in need of humanitarian assistance to survive. This is from June to December,” said Elisabeth Byrs, WFP senior spokesperson, speaking via videoconference.
The appeal comes after more than five years of fighting in the Arabian peninsula country, between the Government of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi now based in the south – supported by a Saudi-led international coalition - and the mainly Houthi-led opposition, which occupies the capital, Sana’a, in the north.
According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, four in five Yemenis need humanitarian assistance.
Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world before violence escalated in March 2015, and today millions of people lack access to sufficient food, fuel and medicine, almost all of which is imported.
The WFP spokesperson noted the UN agency’s particular concern for “over 20 million Yemenis are food insecure, of which nearly 10 million are acutely food insecure”.
Ms. Byrs added that the agency “expects coronavirus to push many more children in Yemen into acute malnutrition. Over two million children in Yemen are already acutely malnourished, and it’s a figure that WFP fears will increase.”
« Nous sommes particulièrement inquiets pour les 20 millions de Yemenis qui souffrent d’insécurité alimentaire et dont 10 millions d’entre eux de ces 20 millions sont - souffrent - d’insécurite alimentaire sévère. Il y a egalement des enfants qui posent problème, il y avait deux millions d’enfants au Yemen qui souffrent de malnutrition aïgue. Nous pensons que ce chiffre va malheureusement continuer d’augmenter. »
As of Monday evening, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported nearly 50 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Yemen.
But there are widespread concerns that the situation is much worse.
It is also widely feared that with around half of the country’s health facilities shut, Yemen lacks the means to prevent this latest threat to an already weakened population that faces the ever-present threat of cholera and ongoing conflict that has displaced more than four million people.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, echoed concerns that the aid situation in Yemen threatens to spin out of control, describing it as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with unparalleled protection concerns.
“We’re seeing a growing number of families resorting to harmful coping mechanisms, such as begging, child labour and marrying of children to survive. And we’re reaching a potential breaking point in our programmes,” said Charlie Yaxley, UNHCR spokesperson, via videoconference.
Among the projects most at risk are the agency’s cash-assistance programmes for internally displaced and impoverished host communities.
Up to one million people will be exposed if the projects stop unless funding is found, Mr. Yaxley noted.
Under the scheme, each eligible family receives around $170 in instalments over six months to help pay for rent, buy food, extra clothes and fuel, along with medicine and other urgent concerns.
The development comes ahead of a UN pledging conference for Yemen planned for next Tuesday.
- Medium-wide shot: exterior, flag alley, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva, sunny, blustery.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Elisabeth Byrs, Senior Spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP): “WFP needs $870 million to continue to deliver life-saving assistance to millions in Yemen in need of humanitarian assistance to survive. This is from June to December.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva main entrance, elevated view of front gates.
- SOUNDBITE (FR) - Elisabeth Byrs, Senior Spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP): « Nous sommes particulièrement inquiets pour les 20 millions de Yemenis qui souffrent d’insécurité alimentaire et dont 10 millions d’entre eux de ces 20 millions sont - souffrent - d’insécurite alimentaire sévère. Il y a egalement des enfants qui posent problème, il y avait deux millions d’enfants au Yemen qui souffrent de malnutrition aïgue. Nous pensons que ce chiffre va malheureusement continuer d’augmenter. »
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Elisabeth Byrs, Senior Spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP): “Over 20 million Yemenis are food insecure, of which nearly 10 million are acutely food insecure. WFP expects coronavirus to push many more children in Yemen into acute malnutrition. Over two million children in Yemen are already acutely malnourished, and it’s a figure that WFP fears will increase.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva pedestrian entrance and flag alley, viewed from the Place des Nations, Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) - Charlie Yaxley, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We’re seeing a growing number of families resorting to harmful coping mechanisms, such as begging, child labour and marrying of children to survive. And we’re reaching a potential breaking point in our programmes.”
- Wide shot, UN Geneva, UN flag flying.
Similar Stories
2
1
1
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Senior human rights investigators reporting to the Human Rights Council alleged on Thursday that sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinian men, women and children have been increasingly used “as a method of war” following the 7 October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Bangladesh: Humanitarians describe ‘extreme desperation’ as aid cuts deepen Rohingya children’s suffering
In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts in aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday gave an update on the situation in Syria’s coastal region as reports continue to emerge of the distressing scale of violence there since 6 March.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
The aid response in Burundi to the crisis in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “is literally buckling”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Friday, as it relayed dramatic testimonies from people forced to flee the unchecked advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Close to 80,000 have fled DR Congo amid fighting, sexual violence: UNHCR
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), insecurity and horrific sexual violence have pushed tens of thousands to flee across borders with no sign of the exodus stopping, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the Human Rights Council, highlighting key issues and trends, and the human rights situation in more than 30 countries.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the human rights situation in Myanmar was among the worst in the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Haiti: Massive surge in child armed group recruitment – UNICEF
The ongoing emergency in Haiti is crushing children’s chances of an education and a better future as scores of youngsters are recruited by heavily armed and violent gangs, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today called on UN member states to act with urgency towards a ceasefire and to ease the suffering of the Sudanese people.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“We are at an inflection point in the crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
Investigators tasked by the UN Human Rights Council to track alleged grave abuses of power by top Nicaraguan officials on Wednesday insisted that the International Court of Justice should prosecute what they called the systematic and systemic repression of the country’s people.
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Polio campaign reaches target, additional medical corridors needed, says WHO
The second mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has reached almost 548,000 children under the age of 10, according to the UN health agency (WHO). That represents 92 per cent of the 591,000 due to be vaccinated, said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, Representative of the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) to journalists in Geneva via videolink from Gaza.