Yemen

Yemeni internally displaced persons (IDPs), who left their homes when al-Qaeda swept into southern Abyan Province, now temporarily reside in a public school in Aden Governate.

AFP

Since 2004, conflict between the Republic of Yemen Government (RoYG) and al-Houthi opposition forces has affected more than 1 million people and repeatedly displaced populations in northern Yemen, resulting in the need for humanitarian assistance.  Sporadic clashes and isolated violent incidents continue to result in insecurity and limited humanitarian access, hindering large-scale population returns to Sa’dah and Al Jawf governorates, as well as northern areas of Amran Governorate.

Recent political instability and economic crisis, rising fuel and food prices, high rates of unemployment, conflict, and conflict-related displacement have left as many as half of Yemen’s 24 million people food insecure.  Of these individuals, 22 percent—or 5.3 million people—are severely food insecure, with 1 million children nationwide suffering from acute malnutrition.

Yemen also hosts a significant number of refugees and migrants, the majority from the Horn of Africa, who are also in need of humanitarian assistance.  More than 220,000 Somali refugees resided in Yemen as of July 2012.  More than 100,000 migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa arrived in Yemen in 2011, and, during the first five months of 2012, more than 51,000 individuals arrived to Yemen, with the majority from Ethiopia.

USG HUMANITARIAN FUNDING PROVIDED IN FY 2012

*(As of August 16, 2012)

Yemen Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #12 (282kb PDF) and map (573kb PDF)

Key Developments

On July 23, the U.N. released the updated Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP), a consolidated appeal that responds to humanitarian needs in Yemen.  The revised YHRP requests $586 million in funding for the remainder of 2012—an increase of 31 percent from the original YHRP—and targets six million people.  As of August 14, donors had provided more than $264 million to the updated YHRP.  The U.S. Government (USG) is the largest contributor to the appeal, providing more than 34 percent of international contributions as of August 16, according to the U.N. Financial Tracking Service.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports a limited number of IDPs had returned to Abyan Governorate as of August 2012, and returns may increase in the coming months despite ongoing concerns, such as landmines and unexploded ordnance, extensive damage to infrastructure, and lack of security, basic services, and employment opportunities.  USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) provided $700,000 to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide mine-risk education to inform conflict-affected people and IDPs about the threats posed by landmines and explosive remnants of war.

As of August 16, populations in southern Yemen’s Lahij Governorate were experiencing global acute malnutrition levels of approximately 23 percent, exceeding the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold level of 15 percent.  UNICEF also found severe acute malnutrition levels of 4.5 percent in Lahij.  USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) had provided nearly $68 million in food vouchers and more than 58,000 metric tons of emergency food assistance to affected populations across Yemen.  USAID/OFDA humanitarian assistance in Yemen includes support for nutrition activities, as well as for agriculture and food security, economic recovery, health, humanitarian coordination and information management, logistics and the delivery of relief commodities, and water, sanitation, and hygiene programs.