Joint statement

This statement was developed by a group of international aid organizations working in Yemen, including: ACTED, CARE, Danish Refugee Council, Humanity & Inclusion — Handicap International, INTERSOS, Lutheran World Relief, Medecins du Monde (MdM), Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Polish Humanitarian Action, Save the Children and ZOA.

Aid agencies operating in Yemen are deeply concerned over the humanitarian situation in and around Marib as hostilities continue to escalate resulting in dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children.

In October alone, more than 54 incidents of armed violence affecting civilians in and around Marib were recorded, resulting in over 119 civilian casualties — an increase of more than 230 per cent in civilian casualties recorded in a single month for 2021 in the area. A recent attack on 31 October, hit a religious site, killing and wounding 29 civilians, including students, women and children.[1]

Sana’a’s airport closure for the fifth consecutive year has left stranded at least 32,000 critically ill Yemeni patients in need of life-saving treatment abroad since the first and last medical flights in February last year.

Five years of restrictions imposed on Yemen’s airspace by the Saudi-led coalition is preventing thousands of sick Yemeni civilians from seeking urgent medical treatment outside the country, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and CARE said today. The airport closure is also causing economic losses estimated to be in the billions over the last five years, worsening further an already dire humanitarian situation.

Vital aid funding will be the difference between life and death for 400,000 children in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis

A pledging conference for Yemen on 1 March is a pivotal moment for governments around the world to step up for the Yemeni people, who have already suffered through six years of a man-made catastrophe. With five million people currently teetering on the edge of starvation and over two-thirds of the country’s population in need of humanitarian aid or protection, the situation could not be more urgent, according to 12 aid organisations.

Aid programmes have helped provide vital water, food, health services and shelters for families driven from their homes or living in villages and cities ravaged by the war.

Last year, donors raised only USD$1.35 billion for the aid effort, barely half of the amount pledged in 2019. Since, severe aid cuts have deepened the suffering: some nine million people in Yemen have had their food assistance halved and 6 million people, including three million children, are without clean water and sanitation services during a global pandemic^[1].

18 February 2021 – CARE is extremely concerned for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) whose safety is being put at risk during the current escalation of fighting in Yemen’s Marib governorate.

Marib already hosted around one million IDPs before violence escalated in January 2020. Since then Marib has experienced periods of heavy fighting, with the highest number of airstrikes across Yemen last year. The UN estimates that 113,000 people have been displaced in the past twelve months, with around 6000 displaced from one district alone in the past ten days; a further 385,000 people could be forced to flee if fighting continues.

CARE and other humanitarian organisations are doing our best to provide lifesaving assistance but the needs in camps and settlements are overwhelming and services for IDPs are extremely limited. Most newly displaced families are fleeing for a second time and lack adequate access to healthcare, water systems and latrines which particularly affects the safety and dignity of women and girls.

CARE urgently calls on all parties to take immediate, comprehensive measures to ease the suffering of Yemenis, including protecting civilians from attack and displacement in Marib and across Yemen by initiating a ceasefire, lifting all restrictions on ports and airports, and renewing inclusive and sustainable peace talks.