UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday asked for generous donations for humanitarian operations in war-torn Yemen.
Some 3.85 billion U.S. dollars is needed for 2021 to support 16 million Yemenis who are on the brink of catastrophe, he told a high-level pledging event for Yemen.
"This is not the moment to step back from Yemen ... I implore all donors to fund our appeal generously to stop famine engulfing the country. Every dollar counts."
Donations will make an enormous and concrete difference. In many cases, the difference between life and death, he said. "The assistance you pledge today will not only prevent the spread of famine and save lives. It will help create the conditions for lasting peace."
The United Nations and its partners across Yemen are ready to scale up aid operations. Delivering aid in Yemen is challenging. But humanitarian workers are up to the challenge, said Guterres.
Throughout 2020, UN agencies and partners helped more than 10 million people each month, working in every one of Yemen's 333 districts, he noted.
The UN chief urged all parties to heed the requirements of international humanitarian law to facilitate rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access.
More than 20 million Yemenis need humanitarian assistance and protection, with women and children among the hardest hit. More than 16 million people are expected to go hungry this year. Nearly 50,000 Yemenis are already starving to death in famine-like conditions, he said.
Four million people across Yemen have been forced from their homes. The recent Houthi offensive in Marib threatens to displace hundreds of thousands more. Last year, the conflict in Yemen killed or injured more than 2,000 civilians. It has devastated the economy and crushed public services. Barely half of Yemen's health facilities are fully functional. The COVID-19 pandemic is one more deadly threat in a country facing such severe health challenges, he said.
"For most people, life in Yemen is now unbearable. Childhood in Yemen is a special kind of hell."
Yemeni children are starving. This year, nearly half of all children under 5 in Yemen are set to suffer from acute malnutrition. Some 400,000 of those children face severe acute malnutrition and could die without urgent treatment, he said.
Every 10 minutes, a child dies a needless death from diseases in Yemen. And every day, Yemeni children are killed or maimed in the conflict. Sick and injured children are turned away by overwhelmed health facilities that don't have drugs or equipment to treat them.
This war is swallowing a whole generation of Yemenis. It has to stop, he said.
It has been clear for years that there is no military solution in Yemen. The only path to peace is through an immediate, nationwide cease-fire and a set of confidence-building measures, followed by an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under UN auspices, and supported by the international community, said Guterres.
"This is the fifth time we have convened a high-level pledging event to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The bitter truth is that we will convene a sixth event next year, unless the war ends. We must create and seize every opportunity to save lives, stave off a mass famine, and forge a path to peace."
The humanitarian situation in Yemen has never been worse. Yet last year, humanitarian funding fell. The United Nations received 1.9 billion dollars -- just half of what was needed. At the same time, the Yemeni currency collapsed, and remittances from Yemenis overseas dried up as the pandemic hit economies everywhere, he noted.
The impact has been brutal. Humanitarian organizations providing food, water and health care have reduced or even closed their programs. Families have nothing to fall back on.
"Today, reducing aid is a death sentence for entire families," he warned.
"We must end this senseless conflict now, and start dealing with its enormous consequences immediately. This is not the moment to step back from Yemen. We must equal and surpass the levels of funding we had in 2018 (and 2019)."
The UN-coordinated humanitarian response plan for Yemen requested 3.1 billion dollars in 2018 and 2.5 billion dollars (81 percent) was received. In 2019, 4.2 billion dollars was appealed, and 3.6 billion dollars was received (86 percent). In 2020, only 1.9 billion dollars, or 56 percent of the appeal, was received.
At Monday's pledging conference, World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said 1.9 billion dollars alone is needed to prevent famine in Yemen in 2021. More money is required for other forms of aid.
Monday's pledging conference was co-hosted by the United Nations and the governments of Sweden and Switzerland.
