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Five Million Yemenis Receive Less Than Half of Daily Food Needs

Weather conditions exacerbated burdens of the displaced. (official media)
Weather conditions exacerbated burdens of the displaced. (official media)
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Five Million Yemenis Receive Less Than Half of Daily Food Needs

Weather conditions exacerbated burdens of the displaced. (official media)
Weather conditions exacerbated burdens of the displaced. (official media)

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed in a recent report a new reduction in food rations distributed to millions of needy people in Yemen.

By the end of June, the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) remained under-funded, forcing aid organizations to reduce or close critical assistance programs, the report showed.

As of June 30, the 2022 HRP secured only 26% of the requested $4.27 billion to provide lifesaving assistance and protection services to 17.9 million people.

With the funding cut in June, five million people will now receive less than half of their daily needs, while eight million people will receive less than one-third of their daily needs.

The report also revealed that the lack of funding has forced the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the sole provider of reproductive health medicines and is leading reproductive health service provision in Yemen, to scale back humanitarian operations by 25% since the beginning of the year.

Only 13% of a $100 million appeal has been funded so far.

In 2021, UNFPA reached 1.6 million women and girls with reproductive health services, assisting 151,000 safe deliveries and averting 344,000 unintended pregnancies, with support to 127 health facilities and payments to 2,065 health workers.

It warned that of the 41 major UN programs, 26 have been scaled back or closed. Unless funding is received, 15 will be either further reduced or closed in the coming months.

The report mentioned that hunger now is worse than ever, yet the World Food Program (WFP) was forced to cut rations for millions of people several weeks ago as it and other aid agencies are dangerously underresourced.

Similar cuts across all sectors are sadly costing lives, the report stressed, noting that it is the second major cut in six months only.

On June 26, the WFP announced scaling back its support in Yemen following critical funding gaps, global inflation and the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine.

This came at the time when an estimated 19 million people are facing acute food insecurity or worse, with more than 160,000 in catastrophic food needs.

In December 2021, WFP was forced to reduce food rations for eight million people due to funding gaps, and it had to introduce another round of cuts in May.

Resilience and livelihood activities, as well as school feeding and nutrition programs will cease for four million people, leaving assistance available for only 1.8 million people.

The report further warned that if immediate action is not taken, millions of people will face severe food insecurity, avoidable diseases, displacement and death.

Millions more will not be able to rebuild their shattered livelihoods.

Despite a sever funding shortfall, aid agencies in Yemen delivered life- saving assistance and services to an average of 12.6 million people per month during Q1 2022, reaching 70% of the targeted 17.9 million people through the 2022 HRP.

Some 25% of the number of people reached were women and 49% were children.

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Syrians Commemorate Uprising Anniversary for First Time Since Assad's Fall

This is the first celebration of the Syria's 2011 uprising since the fall of Bashar al-Assad (AFP/Bakr ALKASEM)
This is the first celebration of the Syria's 2011 uprising since the fall of Bashar al-Assad (AFP/Bakr ALKASEM)
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Syrians Commemorate Uprising Anniversary for First Time Since Assad's Fall

This is the first celebration of the Syria's 2011 uprising since the fall of Bashar al-Assad (AFP/Bakr ALKASEM)
This is the first celebration of the Syria's 2011 uprising since the fall of Bashar al-Assad (AFP/Bakr ALKASEM)

Syrians gathered on Saturday to commemorate the 14th anniversary of their uprising in public demonstrations in Damascus for the first time since president Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

The demonstration in Damascus's Umayyad Square is the first in the capital after years of repression under Assad, during which the square was the sole preserve of the ousted president's supporters.

Activists also called on people to gather in the cities of Homs, Idlib and Hama at demonstrations under the slogan "Syria is victorious".

By the afternoon, dozens of people had gathered in the capital's Umayyad Square, amid a heavy security presence and with military helicopters overhead dropping leaflets bearing the slogan "there is no room for hate among us".

Security forces were stationed at all entrances to the square, with some of them handing out flowers to demonstrators while speakers blared revolutionary and Islamic songs, AFP reported.

Many attendees waved the Syrian flag -- officially changed from one used under Assad to the design from the independence era -- and held signs reading "the revolution has triumphed".

Hanaa al-Daghri, 32, was among those in the square and told AFP "what is happening now is a dream we never dared to imagine".

"I left Damascus 12 years ago because I was wanted, and I would have never had any hope of returning were it not for the liberation," she said.

"We are missing many friends who are no longer with us, but their bloodshed brought us to where we are today."

Under bright sunlight, Abdul Moneim Nimr, 41, stood surrounded by his friends who raised a large flag and began dancing and singing.

"We used to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution in northern Syria and today we are celebrating in Umayyad Square. This is a blessed victory," he said.

Syria's conflict began with peaceful demonstrations on March 15, 2011, in which thousands protested against Assad's government, before it spiralled into civil war after his violent repression of the protests.

This year's commemoration marks the first since Assad was toppled on December 8 by opposition factions.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who headed the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the offensive, has since been named interim president.

Hundreds also gathered at the main square in the opposition's former stronghold of Idlib, an AFP journalist saw, raising the flags of Syria and HTS amid a heavy security presence and despite the Ramadan fast and relatively hot weather.

On Thursday, Sharaa signed into force a constitutional declaration regulating a five-year transition period before a permanent constitution is to be put into place.

Analysts have criticised the declaration, saying it grants too much power to Sharaa and fails to provide sufficient protection to the country's minorities.

It also came a week after Syria's Mediterranean coast, the heartland of Assad's Alawite minority, was gripped by the worst wave of violence since his overthrow.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, security forces and allied groups killed at least 1,500 civilians, mainly Alawites, in the violence that began on March 6.

The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Friday: "It is fourteen years since Syrians took to the streets in peaceful protest, demanding dignity, freedom and a better future."

He added in a statement that despite the brutal civil war, "the resilience of Syrians and their pursuit of justice, dignity and peace endure. And they now deserve a transition that is worthy of this."

He called for "an immediate end to all violence and for protection of civilians".

On the occasion of the anniversary, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council in northeast Syria reiterated its objection to the constitutional declaration, saying it "did not adequately reflect the aspirations of the Syrian people to build a just and democratic state".