Saudi Arabia Largest Donor to Humanitarian Effort in Yemen

Ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a school in Abyan, Yemen, with Saudi funding (SDRPY)
Ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a school in Abyan, Yemen, with Saudi funding (SDRPY)
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Saudi Arabia Largest Donor to Humanitarian Effort in Yemen

Ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a school in Abyan, Yemen, with Saudi funding (SDRPY)
Ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a school in Abyan, Yemen, with Saudi funding (SDRPY)

Saudi Arabia has been Yemen's largest donor since the beginning of the war launched by the Houthi militia, with 30 percent of the total aid provided to the country, according to data issued by the Yemeni government and the United Nations.

The data showed that the development financing gap widened significantly due to the cumulative GDP losses totaling about $126 billion and essential recovery and reconstruction needs, estimated at between $20 and $25 billion, and include 12 sectors and 16 cities.

- Funds go to relief

The report, issued by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation funded by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) country office on key priorities for recovery and reconstruction, estimated that the data is "not complete."

The report stressed that the situation "requires a comprehensive assessment of the damage" from late 2014 until now to reach more accurate estimates of recovery and reconstruction needs.

Since the beginning of the conflict, most of the funds sent to Yemen have been directed to humanitarian and relief aid as the number of people in need of assistance continues to increase.

According to the report, the number increased in the last two years from 7.20 million in 2021 to 18 million in 2022, 9.12 million of which are urgently needed, according to the Humanitarian Needs Overview.

- Saudi Arabia provided 30%

The report indicated that official development aid recorded an increase from about $3.1 billion in 2014 to $5.3 billion in 2017, coinciding with the intensification of war and the urgent growing need for humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian aid stabilized at about $7.2 billion in 2020, and the per capita share of development aid increased to $116 in 2017 before declining to $85.26 in 2020.

The report asserted that Saudi Arabia was at the forefront of donor countries with about 30 percent, followed by UAE with about 25 percent, then the US, the World Bank, and the UK.

It shows that the volume of total investment as a percentage of GDP averaged 1.14 percent between 2014 and 2020 and says that the highest contribution of the volume of total investments to GDP amounted to 19 percent in 2019.

According to the report, private investment also recorded an average of 2.11 percent of GDP compared to an average of three percent for public investment for the same period, given the limited state budget, investment expenditures, and war conditions.

- A decline in per capita

The report stated that at the beginning of the conflict, the donor funds were directed toward humanitarian relief to meet the emergencies and their repercussions on the population, who lost their homes and sources of income, forcing them to flee.

The report expected about 19 million people would suffer from acute food insecurity during the second half of this year, while about 538,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition. It warned that they risk losing their lives, with over four million displaced persons.

According to the report, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen has become one of the worst crises in the world.

The data showed that the financial requirement is about $6.1 billion, but the pledges amounted to about $900 million, with a coverage of 3.56 percent.

Requirements for funding humanitarian needs continued to rise and amounted to $3.4 billion in 2022, but the percentage of donor pledges coverage amounted to only 2.30 percent, which is the lowest during the period of conflict and war.

The low percentage may have come from donors' tendency to prioritize the war crisis in Ukraine, where donor pledges reached 2.38 percent, the year that witnessed the coronavirus outbreak, which certainly affected the priorities of donor countries.

The report concludes that, on average, donor pledges for the humanitarian response did not exceed 9.48 percent for 2015-2022, contributing to funding gaps for humanitarian needs at the end of each year.

According to the UN classification, the per capita share of foreign aid in Yemen is the lowest at the regional level and was estimated at $41 in 2013, compared to about $74 for regional countries and about $51 for developing countries.

The data also indicate that the average per capita share of foreign aid in Yemen was at most $4.22 during 1991-2013 and that the impact of this development was not significantly tangible, as the weak economic situation contributed to the conflict.

Most development support programs were halted, which contributed to the decline in economic growth and even led to negative growth rates and cumulative losses in the gross domestic product, increasing poverty and unemployment rates, according to the report.



In Reverse of a Longtime Stance, US Says UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Isn't Immune from Lawsuits

FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
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In Reverse of a Longtime Stance, US Says UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Isn't Immune from Lawsuits

FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa
FILED - 10 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Palestinians examine the damage to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) buildings on their way back to their homes in the wake of the Israeli army withdrew from North of Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ishaq/dpa

The Trump administration has decided that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, reversing the US government's longstanding position that the organization was protected from civil liability.
The Justice Department revealed its new stance in a letter it filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of a lawsuit that aims to hold the agency, known as UNRWA, accountable for the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. The change in position underscores the hardened perspective toward the agency under the Trump administration following allegations by Israel that some of the agency staff was involved in the Hamas rampage.
The lawsuit, filed by families of some of the victims of the massacre, alleges that UNRWA had aided Hamas by, among other things, permitting weapons storage and deployment centers in its schools and medical clinics and by employing Hamas members. Lawyers for UNRWA have called the lawsuit “absurd” and have said in court filings that the agency was immune from liability as a “subsidiary organ” of the United Nations.
The previous US stance protected the agency
In a statement Friday, UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said the Justice Department filing reversed the US government's “longstanding recognition that UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and an integral part of the United Nations, entitled to immunity from legal process.” She said the agency would continue to make its case before the court and "will consider whether any other action is appropriate with respect to the letter.”
The Justice Department acknowledged in its 10-page letter that though its position had been that UNRWA was shielded from litigation, “the Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation.”
“The complaint in this case alleges atrocious conduct on the part of UNRWA and its officers. Of course, such allegations are only the first step on a long road, where plaintiffs will be required to prove what they have alleged. But UNRWA is not above that process — nor are the bulk of the remaining defendants,” the letter states. “The Government believes they must answer these allegations in American courts. The prior Administration’s view that they do not was wrong.”
The letter was signed by Jay Clayton, the new US attorney in Manhattan, and another lawyer in the office, as well as Yaakov Roth, the acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's civil division.
The agency has assisted Palestinians since the 1940s
UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which followed the establishment of Israel, as well as their descendants, until there is a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The agency provides aid and services — including health and education — to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Since the Israel-Hamas war, it has been the main lifeline for a population reliant on humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Israel alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in Hamas’ attack in southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and set off the war in Gaza.
UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation concluded that they could have been involved, although the evidence was not authenticated or corroborated. Israel later alleged that about 100 other Palestinians in Gaza were Hamas members, but never provided any evidence to the United Nations.