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Yemen Humanitarian Update Issue 10 (12 June - 25 July 2019) [EN/AR]

Countries
Yemen
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

HIGHLIGHTS

Lack of funding threatens the Yemen humanitarian response P01

Conflict in Al Dhaleie increases civilian casualties and obstructs the humanitarian response P02

Cholera stalks Yemen two years after 2017 outbreak P03

7,508 Children killed or maimed since 2013 P04

Delays in approving humanitarian projects leave 2.6 Million people at risk P05

Security Council briefed on threats to the Yemen humanitarian response

In a briefing to the Security Council on 18 June, the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), Mark Lowcock reported that the humanitarian situation is worsening for many Yemenis, while fighting continues in many areas af the country. Since June this year, 120,000 more people have fled their homes due to conflict while 375 access incidents where aid was blocked or delayed were reported in April and May. A UN assessment of a decaying oil tanker that threatens to spill 1.1 million barrels of oil into the Red Sea was delayed as the necessary permits could not be secured, Mr. Lowcock indicated. A spill from the tanker could reach from Bab el Mandeb to the Suez Canal and potentially as far as the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in a major disaster for the environment, shipping lanes and the global economy.

The humanitarian response remains severely underfunded. At the High-Level Pledging Event for this year's humanitarian response plan, which the Secretary-General convened in February, donors pledged USS2.6 billion. Twenty-seven of the 40 donors who pledged have paid more than 75 per cent of their pledges, and 20 of the donors have paid 100 per cent - and in some cases even more. However, the countries that made the largest pledges, Yemen's neighbours in the Coalition, have so far paid only a modest proportion of the amount they pledged. As a result, the Humanitarian Response Plan 2019 is currently just under 34 per cent funded, compared with 60 per cent at the same time a year ago.

WFP provided food assistance to 11 million beneficiaries in June, reaching more people than ever before. While food aid is not immediately threatened, underfunding is curtailing the humanitarian response in other areas. Agencies are already suspending support to medical facilities that serve 9 million people and are starting to suspend regular vaccination campaigns targeting 13 million people, including 200,000 infants. The nutrition response is threatened, with work on 30 new feeding centres in areas with the worst levels of hunger halted and another 60 more threatened with closure in coming weeks, putting at least 7,000 malnourished children at immediate risk of death. Up to 21 more key UN programmes could close in t& next two months, the ERC warned. This could mean an end to shelter assistance for more than 800,000 displaced people, and the closure of reproductive health services for over a million impoverished women.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.