The European Commission to release further support of EUR116 million for those in need in Yemen

The support includes €46 million of emergency humanitarian aid and €70 million to support resilience and early recovery in 2017.

The country has become one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises after 2 years of conflict with 18.8 million people, almost 70% of the Yemeni population in need of assistance.

Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, representing the EU at the pledging conference today in Geneva said: “The EU is stepping up vital humanitarian assistance to provide essentials like food, nutrition, health care and water for conflict-affected people in Yemen. The whole country is suffocating from a lack of food, of water, fuel, and the economy is collapsing. Civilians are paying the highest price for the conflict and attacks, including against aid workers, continue to happen. The EU is committed to supporting the Yemeni people and we encourage the international community to step up its collective humanitarian response. Our additional funding will help humanitarian agencies in the country that operate under extremely difficult circumstances to continue delivering lifesaving aid to those in need”.

Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, confirmed the EU commitment to supporting resilience of individuals and societies in very poor, fragile and conflict affected countries like Yemen: “It is important to help the vulnerable population in Yemen to better withstand the continuing hardship and to enable early recovery from the crisis. In this context the EU works closely not only with UN agencies or the World Bank but extends also its coordination to regional financial and development institutions in the Arab Gulf. The extra funds planned today come in addition to the €225 million made available by the Commission since the beginning of the conflict in 2015 for humanitarian and development aid, as well as crisis prevention”.

Background:

In March 2015, Yemen descended into widespread armed conflict. Two years into the conflict, the already dire humanitarian situation in the country has significantly deteriorated. The on-going conflict, the destruction of basic infrastructure, compounded by the collapse of the economy and financial system has severely limited imports of food, medicine and fuel.

The health sector is also close to collapse. Humanitarian organisations estimate that 18.8 million people (almost 70% of the total population) are in need of humanitarian assistance, more than 17 million people are food insecure; 7 million of them are at risk of famine. 2 million children are suffering from malnutrition, and without any treatment 462 000 of them may die in the coming months. 14.8 million are in need of health care and 14.5 million lack access to water and sanitation. 4.5 million need access to shelter and household items.

 
For more information:

Yemen factsheet

Intervention of Commissioner Stylianides at the Yemen Pledging Conference