The Yemen pledging event on 1 March failed to raise the amount needed to deal with the world’s worst humanitarian disaster that this war-torn African country is facing. The event, organized by the governments of Sweden and Switzerland in cooperation with the United Nations, sought to raise US$3.85 billion in donations with US$1.9 billion being needed to prevent famine alone.
How much was pledged?
However, UN member countries pledged a total of US$1.7 billion which is less than the US$1.9 billion pledged in 2020 and $1 billion less than the amount donated in 2019. This is despite the fact that 24 million of the country’s 30 million population are in dire need of humanitarian assistance including more than 12 million children, according to UNICEF. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that 100,000 Yemeni women were at risk of dying during childbirth and due to pregnancy complications and that only half of the country’s health facilities were functioning with many lacking the basic equipment needed to treat the coronavirus pandemic.
Although many UN donors, such as Germany, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, etc, increased their assistance, some did not contribute at all and the traditional largest donors decreased their pledged donations: the USA from US$225 million in 2020 to US$191 million in 2021, Saudi Arabia from US$500 million to $430 million and the UK from US$196 million to $123 million.
Disappointment
The amount pledged not only failed to equal that pledged in 2019 (US$2.6 billion), it even failed to match the amount of funds pledged in 2020 (US$1.9 billion) thus destroying the UN’s hopes of dealing with the humanitarian crises in the country that it has called “a living hell”.
The outcome of today’s pledging event for Yemen is disappointing.
I thank those who pledged generously & ask others to consider again what they can do to help stave off the worst famine the world has seen in decades.
The @UN stands with the starving people of Yemen.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 1, 2021
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed disappointment with the outcome of the high-level pledging conference for Yemen.
“Cutting aid is a death sentence,” Guterres said after the event. “For most people, life in Yemen is now unbearable. Childhood in Yemen is a special kind of hell. Yemeni children are starving. The best that can be said about today is that it represents a down payment,” he stressed.
The official thanked the countries that had pledged more and called on others to reconsider their stance so as “to help stave off the worst famine the world has seen in decades.”
Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, reacted to the outcome of the conference by saying, “I am deeply disappointed that after all our warnings, indications show that world leaders today pledged less than half the US$4 billion that Yemenis so desperately need.”
The Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation, Meryame Kitir, noted: “It is important that we continue to pay attention to the needs of ordinary Yemenis who are suffering greatly from this humanitarian crisis that has now lasted for more than six years. This is the time to show international solidarity.”
New pledging event to be called
Mark Lowcock, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, joined Antonio Guterres in expressing his disappointment and warned that the famine would b extended in Yemen without the necessary funds.
However, I – like @antonioguterres – am disappointed at the outcome of the conference. Cutting aid is a death sentence. The best that can be said about today is that it represents a down payment.https://t.co/jTfy4qANF6
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) March 1, 2021
“We are disappointed at the outcome. It’s going to be impossible with such limited resources to prevent a large-scale famine,” Lowcock said at an online news briefing after the pledging event.
He announced that another pledging event would be held in the months to come.
“We will not abandon them. We will continue to try and persuade the world to come to their aid. We will come back to people and ask them for a stronger response before too long.”
Reasons for and the effects of lower donations
In 2020, Yemen’s biggest donors, the USA, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, drastically decreased their aid to Yemen against the background of the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic and concerns that the aid might not reach the people in need in the regions controlled by the rebels.
The decrease in donations has forced the UN to close some of its major programs in the country.
“The lack of funding has crippled humanitarian operations in Yemen. Sixteen of the 41 major UN programs have already been curtailed and suspended,” UN Secretary-General spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said at a news briefing in late 2020. “Another 26 services will be closed or reduced by the end of the year unless additional funding is received,” she added.
Roots and the impact of the crisis
Yemen has been torn by armed conflict since March 2015, experiencing the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster ever, with millions being displaced, facing famine, and lacking access to clean water, healthcare services, and elementary sanitary conditions. With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Yemenis witnessed even deeper institutional failure and economic and health disaster. The local currency also collapsed. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 16 million people in Yemen will go hungry in 2021 with almost 50,000 already starving to death and another 5 million on the verge of famine. About 2.3 million children aged under five will possibly suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, 400,000 of whom may suffer severe acute malnutrition and could die unless urgent treatment is received.
