Joint NGO Briefing Note on Humanitarian Situation and Funding in Yemen on the Occasion of the 79th United Nations General Assembly

As Member States prepare to attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September, including the General Debate on "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations”, the humanitarian situation for the people in Yemen remains dire.

After almost a decade of conflict, over 18 million people are experiencing food insecurity in Yemen, out of which an estimated 2.6 million people are at risk of further slipping into Emergency (IPC Phase 4) or worse food insecurity conditions. This is more concerning because WFP’s critical General Food Assistance programme was paused for at least the past nine months. Humanitarian funding has seen a sharp decline, with the Humanitarian Response Plan currently funded at less than 28 percent. This is the lowest level of funding since the start of coordinated humanitarian assistance in Yemen, with USD 1 billion less than in 2023, despite the fact that the overall HRP requirement compared to 2023 has been reduced by almost 40 percent.

Many of those impacted include 4.5 million Yemenis who continue to live in displacement. The country also suffers from climate-related disasters, such as the recent flooding that has impacted over 56,000 families in 20 governorates and displaced over 1,000 families. The cholera outbreak with over 172,000 acute watery diarrhoea and suspected cholera cases, and 668 associated deaths, reported by UNICEF since October 2023, with projections indicating further increases, is a vivid illustration of continued large-scale humanitarian challenges. This is further compounded by inadequate access to clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as poor waste disposal systems. Furthermore, according to the latest IPC Acute Malnutrition Analysis, the number of children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition, or wasting, rose by 34 per cent compared to 2023 across the areas controlled by the internationally recognised government (IRG), affecting over 600,000 children, including nearly 120,000 severely malnourished children. These numbers are expected to be even higher in northern governorates, where approximately 70 percent of the population reside, but no assessments have been forthcoming due to access restrictions. The cholera outbreak in such a context leads to a clear risk of high mortality rates among children. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 33 new cases of polio in Yemen since the beginning of 2024, as the healthcare system continues to face challenges, including obstacles to vaccination campaigns.

Yemen also hosts close to 72,000 refugees and asylum seekers, and receives thousands of migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia, many of whom die attempting the perilous journey across the Horn of Africa. Along with thousands of Yemenis, they face the risk of the presence of unexploded ordnance as Yemen has one of the world’s highest rates of contamination with land mines and other deadly explosives.

As the economic crisis in Yemen continues, with local currency depreciating, and scarce income opportunities, Yemeni civilians suffer severe consequences of increasing cost of basic commodities. Weak public services continue to be a challenge, and although economic and development investment is desperately needed to create stability and increase chances of the Yemeni population to regain their economic dignity, Yemen has seen very minimal investment, and the fragile gains achieved over the past years are at the risk of being lost.

To add to this complexity, aid agencies continue to experience immense pressure across the country, with hampering humanitarian access and response, including bureaucratic impediments, restrictions of movement of female national staff, and interferences in internal organisational processes and procedures. The recent wave of detentions of national aid workers in northern Yemen are of particular concern. In order to support millions of people in need, humanitarian staff need to be able to carry out their work in a safe environment, without fear of detention, intimidation or violence, in line with International Humanitarian Law.

The recent regional escalation of hostilities impacted the Hodeidah port, the key logistical lifeline for bringing in essential food, fuel, and other commodities, as well as 80 percent of humanitarian assistance to the population in northern Yemen, highlights the potentially disastrous impact of the regional escalation of the war on Gaza. The humanitarian community is extremely concerned with these escalations, as well as any ensuing politicisation of aid. Humanitarian assistance in Yemen must be clearly based on identified humanitarian needs, in line with humanitarian principles, and completely de-linked from recent escalation.

Yet, it is not all bad news in Yemen. Several roads within the country have been reopened, commercial international flights were resumed a few months ago, and the Hodeidah port remains fully operational, – all essential elements for improving the lives of Yemenis and directly relevant to humanitarians’ ability to stay and deliver aid to the most vulnerable population in Yemen. It is also important to stress that, despite continued numerous challenges over the past decade, all humanitarian organisations have shown incredible resilience and always managed to successfully navigate the challenges, and deliver impactful humanitarian aid both in the north and south of the country. We continue to do so, and we maintain our utmost commitment to reduce suffering by providing assistance to the most vulnerable people in Yemen, in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.

However, to enable effective implementation of relief efforts, humanitarian response urgently needs to overcome a severe reduction in funding, which has become a major response barrier, and creates a worry that Yemen may be heading in the direction of yet another neglected/forgotten humanitarian crisis.

We, the undersigned, international NGOs within the humanitarian and development community in Yemen, appeal to Member States with the following requests:

● All detained humanitarian staff should be released immediately and unconditionally, and in the meantime their relatives and loved ones should be given access to visit them. We are calling on Member States to support the negotiation efforts for their release.

● Urgent scale-up of humanitarian assistance, especially in the context of cholera cases, increased malnutrition, large- scale food insecurity and the recent floods, is required to avoid a more severe humanitarian catastrophe that could force millions of people to face starvation and death, with women, children and older people particularly at high risk. To enable that, urgent quality and flexible humanitarian funding needs to be provided to the humanitarian community to support needs-based humanitarian assistance, in line with core humanitarian principles, and free from political agendas.

● International donors should provide climate-related humanitarian financing to support community resilience and counter the high impact of climate emergencies in Yemen.

● To support the resource mobilisation efforts for humanitarian assistance in Yemen, a dedicated annual pledging event for Yemen should be re-established.

● Humanitarian assistance, especially after almost a decade of crisis in Yemen, must be complemented with the scale up of development investment to Yemen, to promote economic stability and durable solutions of IDPs, and linked to improvements of access and free from operational interference by authorities.

● The regional conflict escalation, with ripple effects seen in interconnected contexts such as Yemen, could lead to an unprecedented level of humanitarian catastrophe across the region. The humanitarian community calls for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and urges de-escalation of regional tensions to prevent further destabilisation.

Signed by:
Action For Humanity International / CARE / Caritas Poland / Danish Refugee Council / Dorcas Aid International / FHI 360 / Humanity & Inclusion - Handicap International / International Rescue Committee / INTERSOS / MSIY (Marie Stopes International Yemen) / Mercy Corps / Norwegian Refugee Council / OXFAM / Save the Children International / Triangle Generation Humanitaire / War Child Alliance / ZOA