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The international community's failure to focus on the desperate humanitarian situation in Yemen
has left the poorest country in the Middle East country facing "one of
the most forgotten crises in the world" as it attempts to move towards
democracy, the ...
Yemen's democracy shift hampered by 'forgotten' humanitarian crisis
Hope of political transition in the country is being jeopardised by hunger, access to safe water and conflict, UN warns
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Yemen's political uncertainty has pushed sanitation and water access down the list of priorities.
Photograph: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
The international community's failure to focus on the desperate humanitarian situation in Yemen
has left the poorest country in the Middle East country facing "one of
the most forgotten crises in the world" as it attempts to move towards
democracy, the UN has warned.
Although the Arab spring has fizzled out in many Arab countries, its aftermath in Yemen still holds some hope of delivering democratic change, according to Trond Jensen, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen.
He points out that the political transition that began with the end of president Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule in 2011 has brought women, young people and civil society organisations into the political process for the first time.
But if the country's most urgent humanitarian needs are not addressed, warns Jensen, "there's a risk that the political process could fail".
According to the Overseas Development Institute's (ODI) humanitarian practice network, half the country's 23.8 million people live below the poverty line; 14.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 13 million lack access to safe water or sanitation, with water supplies expected to run out in urban areas in 10 to 15 years.
The country's young people are particularly vulnerable: 60% of children are chronically malnourished and almost half of those under the age of five – 2 million children – are stunted. Droughts and internal armed conflicts, which have led to the displacement of 300,000 people, further compound problems. The country is also home to around 240,000 refugees, many of them from Somalia.
Jensen says the combination of an unprecedented number of high-profile global humanitarian emergencies - from Syria and South Sudan to the Central African Republic - and an emphasis on security rather than the country's humanitarian situation, has meant health, education and nutrition have been forgotten.
To make matters worse, there has been a serious shortfall in funding for the UN's humanitarian activities: so far only $122m of the humanitarian requirement of $592m has been received.
According to Jensen, the challenges for delivering humanitarian assistance are enormous.
The sheer number of current conflicts - between the government and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP); between security services, the government and the southern separatist movement, al Hiraak al Janoubi, and between the Houthis (Shia) and the Sunni hardline Salafist militias and the Islamist al-Islah party in the north – make negotiating access extremely difficult. With high levels of insecurity making it hard for international organisations to get into many parts of the country, the task often falls to local organisations.
To complicate things still further, many NGOs are now "indelibly associated with the political process," according to Steven Zyck, a research fellow in humanitarian policy at the ODI. Unfortunately many in Yemen, including the rebels, some youth activists and civil society organisations, are said to seriously mistrust the process.
Zyck says the large amounts of foreign aid to Yemen provided as humanitarian rather than development assistance could further risk drawing humanitarian groups into politics and conflict.
"Many donor strategies and UN and NGO plans link living conditions and security," he says. "[This pushes] development actors into some of the most conflict-affected parts of the country – where they will work in close proximity with humanitarian actors, further blurring the distinction between principled humanitarian work and more political development efforts".
If the UN and NGOs are to help the millions of Yemenis who rely on their aid, and shield themselves from further hostility, says Jensen, everyone involved must understand that those involved in humanitarian response are divorced from the political process and that the assistance they provide is needs-based.
Jensen argues that long-term development and resilience need to be supported along with immediate humanitarian requirements - and it is in this "nexus area of resilience" that humanitarian and development actors should join forces. By focusing on building national capacity within NGOs and government institutions, Jensen hopes to get to the vulnerable communities that cannot be reached by international organisations because of the security situation.
But Yemen's problems do not end there. According to panellists an event at the ODI earlier last week, khat - the mild narcotic used extensively throughout the country - is one of the country's greatest, yet least-discussed, challenges. Not only does it use up to 70% of the water available for human and agricultural consumption, it also has a knock-on effect in terms of malnourishment.
Its impacts, combined with the country's rapid population growth – at the current rate of 3% per annum, the population is expected to double by the year 2033 – make the multitude of challenges facing Yemenis all the more urgent, according to Jensen.
Although the country's slow political transition affords some cause for optimism, he says it must not be taken for granted.
"If people are not seeing a change in their daily lives … that transition could be undermined," he said. And given the country's regionally fractured nature, if "somehow Yemen should fail, it would disintegrate".
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Although the Arab spring has fizzled out in many Arab countries, its aftermath in Yemen still holds some hope of delivering democratic change, according to Trond Jensen, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen.
He points out that the political transition that began with the end of president Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule in 2011 has brought women, young people and civil society organisations into the political process for the first time.
But if the country's most urgent humanitarian needs are not addressed, warns Jensen, "there's a risk that the political process could fail".
According to the Overseas Development Institute's (ODI) humanitarian practice network, half the country's 23.8 million people live below the poverty line; 14.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 13 million lack access to safe water or sanitation, with water supplies expected to run out in urban areas in 10 to 15 years.
The country's young people are particularly vulnerable: 60% of children are chronically malnourished and almost half of those under the age of five – 2 million children – are stunted. Droughts and internal armed conflicts, which have led to the displacement of 300,000 people, further compound problems. The country is also home to around 240,000 refugees, many of them from Somalia.
Jensen says the combination of an unprecedented number of high-profile global humanitarian emergencies - from Syria and South Sudan to the Central African Republic - and an emphasis on security rather than the country's humanitarian situation, has meant health, education and nutrition have been forgotten.
To make matters worse, there has been a serious shortfall in funding for the UN's humanitarian activities: so far only $122m of the humanitarian requirement of $592m has been received.
According to Jensen, the challenges for delivering humanitarian assistance are enormous.
The sheer number of current conflicts - between the government and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP); between security services, the government and the southern separatist movement, al Hiraak al Janoubi, and between the Houthis (Shia) and the Sunni hardline Salafist militias and the Islamist al-Islah party in the north – make negotiating access extremely difficult. With high levels of insecurity making it hard for international organisations to get into many parts of the country, the task often falls to local organisations.
To complicate things still further, many NGOs are now "indelibly associated with the political process," according to Steven Zyck, a research fellow in humanitarian policy at the ODI. Unfortunately many in Yemen, including the rebels, some youth activists and civil society organisations, are said to seriously mistrust the process.
Zyck says the large amounts of foreign aid to Yemen provided as humanitarian rather than development assistance could further risk drawing humanitarian groups into politics and conflict.
"Many donor strategies and UN and NGO plans link living conditions and security," he says. "[This pushes] development actors into some of the most conflict-affected parts of the country – where they will work in close proximity with humanitarian actors, further blurring the distinction between principled humanitarian work and more political development efforts".
If the UN and NGOs are to help the millions of Yemenis who rely on their aid, and shield themselves from further hostility, says Jensen, everyone involved must understand that those involved in humanitarian response are divorced from the political process and that the assistance they provide is needs-based.
Jensen argues that long-term development and resilience need to be supported along with immediate humanitarian requirements - and it is in this "nexus area of resilience" that humanitarian and development actors should join forces. By focusing on building national capacity within NGOs and government institutions, Jensen hopes to get to the vulnerable communities that cannot be reached by international organisations because of the security situation.
But Yemen's problems do not end there. According to panellists an event at the ODI earlier last week, khat - the mild narcotic used extensively throughout the country - is one of the country's greatest, yet least-discussed, challenges. Not only does it use up to 70% of the water available for human and agricultural consumption, it also has a knock-on effect in terms of malnourishment.
Its impacts, combined with the country's rapid population growth – at the current rate of 3% per annum, the population is expected to double by the year 2033 – make the multitude of challenges facing Yemenis all the more urgent, according to Jensen.
Although the country's slow political transition affords some cause for optimism, he says it must not be taken for granted.
"If people are not seeing a change in their daily lives … that transition could be undermined," he said. And given the country's regionally fractured nature, if "somehow Yemen should fail, it would disintegrate".
end quote from:
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