At Security Council, UN Deputy Relief Chief calls for action to address "staggering" Yemen emergency

Remarks by Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya

Thank you, Mr. President.

As we’ve said in recent briefings, the last year has brought a number of improvements to Yemen.

The truce, of course, was a major step forward. The fact that many of its key provisions have persisted – even months after the truce itself expired – raises hopes.

As ever, we want to repeat our support for Hans’ work. And we want to commend efforts in the region to support UN mediation and promote peace.

Another improvement has been a decline in the number of people going hungry in Yemen, which has fallen by almost 2 million people. The worst levels of hunger – IPC5 – have dropped to zero.

This is largely thanks to the tireless efforts of humanitarian workers, to the generous support of donors, and to the truce itself.

There has also been progress on the SAFER tanker. Last week, UNDP announced the purchase of a replacement vessel that should arrive in Hudaydah in May. This means the offloading operation could finish by September – if donors quickly provide the remaining $34 million needed.

Mr. President,

We are right to celebrate these important improvements.

But we must not rejoice too much.

Because Yemen remains a staggering emergency. This year, more than 17 million people are counting on aid agencies for assistance and protection.

But too often, agencies don’t have what they need to help. This is what I want to discuss today.

Access and security are still major challenges.

Funding is in short supply.

And economic problems are pushing even more people into destitution. Let’s start with the perennial challenge of access and security.

For once, there is a bit of good news on this issue.

Agencies are now increasingly present in places that in the past were extremely hard to reach due to fighting, constraints by the authorities, and internal UN security rules.

In recent weeks, agencies have reached former frontline areas in Hudaydah, remote parts of Hajjah hosting numerous displaced people, and other hard-to- access locations.

These missions are part of a larger commitment to move the aid operation as much as possible out of the major hubs and closer to people’s needs – wherever they might be.

Houthi authorities have also recently accelerated approvals of aid projects in the areas they control, which is welcome.

But, despite these rays of light, the overall picture on access and security remains very dark.

In Houthi-controlled areas, Yemeni female aid workers are still unable to travel without male guardians – both within and out of the country. This is causing serious disruptions in the ability of agencies to assist women and girls safely and reliably.

The humanitarian community calls on the Houthi authorities to lift all such movement restrictions and to work with us to identify an acceptable way forward on this issue.

In addition, Houthi attempts to interfere with aid operations remain rife. These include efforts to force agencies to select certain contractors for third-party monitoring and assessments.

Moreover, two UN staff remain detained in Sana’a following their arrest by Houthi authorities in November 2021. We ask for their immediate release.

Agencies are also concerned about growing vaccine scepticism, particularly in Houthi-held areas, and the role this is playing in rising rates of vaccine- preventable diseases like measles and polio.

Given current levels of malnutrition, we worry that low rates of vaccine coverage will cause even more children to fall sick or die from measles, polio and other diseases.

On top of these challenges, insecurity persists in many areas – threatening aid workers and preventing access in some places, especially in Shabwa and Abyan. It’s now been more than a year since five UN staff were kidnapped in Abyan. Again, we ask for their immediate release.

Mr. President,

Donors have all these issues at the top of their minds as they consider where to spend their money this year. Many are asking whether principled aid delivery is even possible in this environment.

For now, the answer is still “yes”.

Last year, aid agencies assisted nearly 11 million people every month. Doing so is much harder than it should be. It often requires many rounds of discussions, leading to numerous delays.

But it was and still is possible. We can absolutely keep going – if we have enough money.

And this brings me to my next point – funding for the aid operation.
Two weeks ago, the Secretary-General joined the Governments of Sweden and

Switzerland to host the seventh annual Yemen pledging event.

More than 30 donors promised $1.16 billion for humanitarian action. Given everything else going on in the world, this is an impressive result. Thank you.

But it is also the lowest amount this event has raised since 2017. It will not be nearly enough to get the aid operation through the end of the year.

At the pledging event, many donors raised serious concerns over impediments by Houthi authorities – particularly mahram requirements that restrict movements of Yemeni female aid workers.

We know donor funds are tight, and other crises are competing for their support. Donors often point out that many of these other emergencies come with fewer concerns when spending their money.

So for now, we are urgently advocating immediate disbursement of all pledges. The promises made at the Yemen pledging event need to be honoured, and fast. This is essential to ensure continuity in essential programmes – some of which are already closing.

We will also continue to advocate full funding of the response plan – where we need $4.3 billion to help 17 million people. But as we do so, we will work closely with donors and other stakeholders on the access problems I spoke about earlier – and that so many donors warned about at the event.

Mr. President,
We also remain deeply worried about the need for more support to strengthen Yemen’s economy.

Economic decline is among the top drivers of humanitarian needs, and aid agencies want to do much more to help Yemenis move beyond the immediate crisis.

One priority is to clean up the awful landmines and other explosives that are killing and maiming so many, as well as choking off economic life.

We are eager to start, but we need more resources and more specialized partners. Getting started also requires ensuring agencies face fewer obstacles and are able to deliver principled assistance. We have recently heard several important commitments in this regard.

Beyond mine action, the UN is working with donors and partners on a revised economic framework that will help address broader economic drivers of humanitarian needs in Yemen.

This year offers an important opportunity to make progress on these economic drivers while we still have the benefit of a massive aid operation in the country.

If we miss this opportunity, it will become much harder to ever transition towards a smaller aid operation without putting millions of lives at risk.

These efforts will depend on everyone’s support. That means investment by donors, as well as policy measures to promote economic growth.

The Government of Yemen and the Coalition are already taking steps in this regard, including more support for the Central Bank in Aden and easing regulations on imports bound for Red Sea ports.

However, the loss of Government revenue following Houthi attacks on oil export infrastructure last October remains a serious challenge – particularly for efforts to pay salaries and fund basic services.

Mr. President,

As we move into the holy month of Ramadan, we hope everyone will take stock of the situation in Yemen and how the world can help.

This includes efforts to address the issues I’ve just described – but also to support work under way to deliver what Yemen really needs more than anything else: peace.

Thank you.