Global donors on Monday pledged about $1.2 billion at a conference aimed at generating funds to help millions of people in Yemen suffering from the fallout of an eight-year war, a UN official said. The amount is far below a target of $4.3 billion set by the United Nations to stave off one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the country’s population, need help and protection, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, which says the humanitarian needs in Yemen are "shocking." Among those in need, more than 17 million are considered particularly vulnerable.
"The people of Yemen deserve our support. But more than that, they deserve a credible path out of perpetual conflict and a chance to rebuild their communities and country," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing the donors.
Martin Griffiths, OCHA's head, said they received 31 pledges at Monday’s conference, totaling about $1.2 billion. He said the UN hopes to collect more funds throughout the year to help cover its needs.
Charities working in Yemen slammed the shortfall in global pledges, despite appeals from humanitarian officials.
"The international community today showed it has abandoned Yemen at this crucial crossroads," said Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Yemen Country Director. "This is woefully inadequate and gives the signal that some humans are less valuable than others."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said, "Funding shortages risk turbo-charging Yemen’s humanitarian woes from bad to worse."
The high-level gathering was co-hosted by Sweden, Switzerland, and the UN in the organization’s Palais des Nations in Geneva. It was attended by officials from across the world.
Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell called the conference a "good start."
"But with 21 million Yemenis in need of assistance, clearly more funding will be needed throughout the year," he said.
Addressing the conference virtually, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will provide more than $444 million in humanitarian assistance to Yemen in 2023.
He called on donors to step up their contributions to meet the humanitarian demands in Yemen, pointing to last year’s funding shortages that forced UN agencies to scale down operations including food rations for thousands of families.
"The scale of the challenge we face is daunting. But I urge everyone to keep our focus on the people we seek to help," he told the conference.
Such UN appeals are rarely fully funded. OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said last year’s appeal for Yemen – also some $4.3 billion – ended 2022 at just over half-funded, which is roughly on par with the percentage garnered in such appeals for "protracted" crises in places like Yemen, Syria, Congo, or Ethiopia.
Laerke said meeting about one-fourth of the appeal was "a good, decent outcome of a pledging event" like Monday’s. Others known as "flash" appeals tend to get more because they’re often launched directly after an emergency, like after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria, he said.
The conference came as the global economy remains rattled by the yearlong Russian invasion of Ukraine. Inflation rates have surged over the past year across the world, forcing many governments to focus on elevating the needs of their own people.
Kuwait pledged $5 million for Yemen and the United Arab Emirates pledged $325 million for recovery projects.
The conference is taking place as the warring sides continue to observe an informal and fragile cease-fire. Efforts are underway to declare a new truce after the parties failed to renew a U.N.-brokered truce in October.
"We have a real opportunity this year to change Yemen’s trajectory and move towards peace, by renewing and expanding the truce," Guterres, the UN chief, said.
The truce, which took effect in April, brought some relief for Yemenis, especially in areas held by the Iran-backed Houthi militias. It enabled commercial traffic to resume at Sanaa's airport and the sea port of Hodeidah.
The truce expired in October after the Houthis obstructed efforts to renew and expand it.
The war has decimated the country’s civilian infrastructure including its health care system. Hospitals and medical facilities have repeatedly been attacked.
There have also been Houthi attacks on oil facilities in government-held areas, resulting in the disruption of oil export.
"Yemen requires urgent and robust support from international donors and other partners to effectively avert the potential collapse of its health system," said Adham Ismail, the World Health Organization’s representative in Yemen.
Climate change has added to the suffering. Yemen, located at the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, is "at the forefront" of a global climate crisis, as natural disasters, including floods and arid weather, threaten lives, the UN has said.
