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Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 26 July 2019 [EN/AR]

Countries
Yemen
Sources
UNHCR
Publication date

Key figures

  • 24.1 M people in need
  • 3.65 M displaced since March 2015
  • More than 80 percent have been displaced more than a year
  • 53,240 families since January 2019
  • 1.28 M IDP returnees
  • 265,785 refugees
  • 9,853 asylum-seekers

IDP Response

UNHCR remains active in its provision of assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and vulnerable host-community members throughout Yemen. On 17 July, in the north of the country, UNHCR Sana’a conducted a day mission to Amran governorate to verify locations for the installation of 23 refugee multipurpose shelter structures at public hospitals, IDP settlements and local authority offices. These structures, due to be completed by the end of August, will improve waiting spaces for patients and outpatient services and function as classrooms in IDP settlements.

On the same day in the south of the country, UNHCR Aden participated in an event during which UNHCR’s legal partner NRC distributed 260 identity document (ID) cards for IDPs issued by the Civil Registration Authority (CRA) in Abyan and Lahj governorates. Loss of key documents such as birth certificates, IDs and marriage certificates (all prerequisites to the issuance or reissuance of ID cards) is a pressing concern for IDPs in Yemen, who have often fled their homes with very few belongings. The lack of such documentation can negatively affect IDPs in a number of ways, including hindering access to health and education, impeding freedom of movement, preventing formalization of civil status or impacting on the ability to receive financial humanitarian assistance such as rental subsidies. With the collaboration of UNHCR, legal partners, government ministries and local authorities, the CRA issued a total of 3,108 national ID cards and 555 birth certificates in the first six months of 2019.

Refugee Response

A survey to assess Out-of-School Children (OOSC) was conducted in the Basateen neighbourhood of Aden governorate, during June and the first week of July. A total of 368 OOSC refugee children between the ages of eight and fifteen years of age were identified. These children will undergo assessment tests, register for the next academic year and receive school uniforms and school kits. UNHCR Aden supports a tracking system at three primary schools, where school counsellors monitor drop-outs and refer them to UNHCR’s protection partner, INTERSOS. INTERSOS then responds to the needs of the child through addressing household poverty, child labour and early marriage, while also encouraging them to return to school and providing them with uniforms and kits. In the coming academic 2019-20 year, a total of 1,500 children identified through such protection activities will be supported with these measures. In the previous academic year, some 1,000 refugee OOSC were assisted.

Malnourishment continues to be a formidable factor affecting the welfare of millions in Yemen, particularly children. At Kharaz camp in Lahj governorate, refugees benefit from WFP’s general food distributions. They also have access to nutritional programmes that treat malnourished under-fives and pregnant/lactating mothers through distribution of ready-to-use food from UNICEF for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, as well as wheat-soy blends from WFP. In the first half of 2019, 1,355 refugee children, pregnant/lactating women and vulnerable members of the host community residing close to Kharaz, benefitted from the supplementary feeding programme and 119 children were newly admitted to the acute malnutrition programme. UNHCR supports community health workers to conduct regular Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) screenings used for the assessment of nutritional status, case referrals, and conducts awareness programmes that promote breast feeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) programmes.