UN raises less than third of requested funds for Yemen

By Al Mayadeen Net
Source: Agencies
17 Mar 2022 11:00

In light of the crisis in Europe and its effects on Yemen, only $1.3 billion of the $4.27 billion requested were donated.

UN raises less than a third of the requested funds for Yemen.

On Wednesday, the UN aid director expressed its disappointment that states have donated only $1.3 billion of the $4.27 billion requested for the UN's humanitarian work in Yemen this year.

Russia's special operation in Ukraine and Europe's quickly increasing refugee crisis has overshadowed other humanitarian crises across the world. According to the UN, an estimated 23.4 million people — roughly three out of every four people in Yemen — require aid in what has been dubbed the world's biggest humanitarian disaster.

This includes about 19 million people who will "go hungry in the coming months."

"We hoped for more, and it is a disappointment we didn't get pledges from some we thought we might hear from," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told a pledging event co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland Wednesday.

"The dire situation ... is one that needs money, funding — urgent, rapid, in the bank — for the people of Yemen," Griffiths said.

Due to financing constraints, the World Food Program has already been forced to lower food supplies for 8 million people in Yemen.

WFP executive director David Beasley said in a statement issued before Wednesday's pledging ceremony that "Yemen's funding has never reached this level. We have no choice but to take food from the hungry in order to feed the hungry."

Europe's crisis' effect on Yemen

According to the UN, the present European crisis is likely to increase Yemen's misery, citing the fact that approximately one-third of Yemen's wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine.

Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has waged an all-out war on Yemen.

But, according to Reuters, the Saudi-led coalition would invite Yemeni groups to Riyadh this month for crisis meetings.

"After more than seven years of war, Yemen is becoming what humanitarians often refer to as a 'chronic emergency,'" Griffiths told the UN Security Council Tuesday.

"And, as aid workers know, there are grave risks in chronic emergencies, namely inertia, and fatigue," he added. "We have to avoid giving in to those forces."