Yemeni humanitarian crisis is one of largest crises in world : OCHA [14/February/2015]



NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (Saba) – The Yemeni crisis is one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world and it may get worse in 2015, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday.



The humanitarian coordinators pointed ,during an expanded debate session held at the United Nations building in New York, that millions of the poor people in Yemen depend on welfare network aid to secure basic expenses, including food, medicines and medical care.



About 16 million Yemeni, equivalent to 61 percent of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance in securing food security, drinking water and sanitation services and other important needs, the UN coordinators added.



They asserted that the humanitarian response plan for 2015 in Yemen will be ready soon and requires $ 748 million to meet the needs of 8.2 million people, and will allocate $ 285 million for emergency requests.



Yemen's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Khalid al-Yamani reiterated ,during the session, the necessity to focus on addressing the humanitarian crisis being experienced by Yemen.



Al-Yamani called for increasing funding for the humanitarian response plan for 2015, affirming that Yemen is in dire need of this support now more than ever.



The Arab League's Ambassador to the United Nations Ahmed Fathallah called on the participants in session and the international community representatives to highlight the humanitarian crisis and economic challenges in Yemen. He warned of focusing only on the current political crisis and ignoring the developmental hindrances in Yemen.



Executive Director of the Executive Bureau to accelerate absorption of donors' pledges Amat al-Alim Alsoswa participated in the session via a direct intervention from Sana'a, in which she touched on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen that extended from before 2011 events.



"Yemen is facing today the biggest humanitarian crisis ever", Alsoswa said, adding that every Yemeni child, a woman and a man is in dire need and deserves the support of the international community.



Alsoswa pointed to the displaced people crisis, high rates of poverty and unemployment among youth and women, the effects of climate change and the scarcity of water resources, as well as the influx of refugees to Yemen.



She reviewed the financial statements, factors of recession ,constraints of the government services and incidents of vandalism that affect the infrastructure of the oil and gas and power lines.



"The role of humanitarian actors today is the most important and the most prominent in the absence of public services", said Alsoswa, urging the international community to exert pressure on all political factions to reach a political settlement, because the escalation of the conflict would double the crisis of displaced people and refugee .



Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East and is ranked 154 (out of 187) in the Human Development Report for 2014. According OCHA, almost eight million children in Yemen will need aid humanitarian during 2015. There are more than 330,000 internally displaced people in Yemen due to armed conflict, as the country hosts hundreds of thousands of African refugees, mostly from Somalia and the Horn of Africa, who use Yemen as a route to reach the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.



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