Tag Archives: brink

Urgent action needed to ‘pull Yemen back from the brink of catastrophe’

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Tom Fletcher said that with “time and treatment” Noor was able to recover fully.

But what happens to a child such as Noor when treatments are limited and time runs out?

A group of 116 aid organizations, including 10 UN agencies, called on Tuesday for “urgent, collective action” to prevent Yemen from descending into a humanitarian catastrophe.

They warned that without such action, specifically increased funding, their ability to provide life-saving assistance will be severely curtailed.

“Without immediate action, the vital gains achieved through years of dedicated assistance could be lost,” they said.

Non-stop crises

For more than a decade, Yemen has endured a series of crises – armed conflicts, climate disasters and economic decay. As a result, close to 20 million depend on humanitarian aid to survive and five million are internally displaced.

Half of all Yemeni children – some 2.3 million – are malnourished. Over 600,000 are severely malnourished, like Noor. Malnutrition also impacts over 1.4 million pregnant women, creating an intergenerational cycle.

The healthcare system is also in disrepair, with Yemen accounting for more than one-third of cholera cases worldwide and 18 per cent of related deaths. 20 per cent of children under the age of one are fully unvaccinated.

Providing humanitarian aid in Yemen has also come with extreme difficulties for aid workers, with some being arbitrarily detained, including UN staffers.

Strikes against the Hodeida port and Sana’a Airport have also damaged vital humanitarian pathways for food and medicine.

Time and treatment running out

The aid community’s call for urgent action comes amidst extensive funding shortages. The Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is less than 10 per cent funded.

“We urgently appeal to donors to scale up flexible, timely, and predictable funding for the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan,” the aid organizations said.

Already, the UN and aid partners are working to minimize operational costs while maximizing aid provision and there is no doubt suffering will increase due to the reduction in aid.

In the first quarter of 2025, over five million people in Yemen received emergency food assistance, 1.2 million received clean water and sanitation services and 154,000 children were able to resume their education.

But without immediate funding, Emergency Relief Coordinator Fletcher estimates that there will be gaps in this aid as early as June or July.

Nearly 400 health facilities will be forced to stop operating, including 64 hospitals, which will impact over 7 million individuals. Funding for more than 700 midwives is also quickly drying up.

Call to the international community

While the humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been overshadowed by other vast humanitarian crises in Gaza and Sudan among other places, the 116 aid organizations emphasized that “donor support saves lives.”

The 7th Humanitarian Senior Officials Meeting will be held Wednesday and should be a moment to work to avoid catastrophe in Yemen, the aid organizations urged.

“Now more than ever, swift and resolute support is crucial to prevent Yemen from sliding deeper into crisis and move towards a lasting peace,” they said.

Time and treatment are running out for children like Noor.

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‘Step back from the brink’, Guterres urges India and Pakistan

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Addressing journalists outside the Security Council at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres expressed deep concern over deteriorating relations between the two South Asian neighbours, saying they had reached “their highest in years.”

He reiterated his condemnation of the 22 April terror attack in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir, which killed at least 26 civilians and injured many more.

“Targeting civilians is unacceptable – and those responsible must be brought to justice through credible and lawful means,” Mr. Guterres said.

“It is also essential – especially at this critical hour – to avoid a military confrontation that could easily spin out of control.”

The Security Council is due to meet behind closed doors later on Monday to discuss the rising tensions between the two nations.

UN ready to help de-escalate

He offered his good offices to both governments to help defuse tensions and promote diplomacy, stressing that “a military solution is no solution.”

“Now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink,” he said.

Mr. Guterres also praised both countries for their long-standing contributions to UN peacekeeping operations and expressed hope that their shared history of cooperation could form the basis for renewed dialogue.

“The United Nations stands ready to support any initiative that promotes de-escalation, diplomacy, and a renewed commitment to peace,” he said.

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Gaza: Aid ban pushes civilians to the brink

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UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at a news briefing at UN Headquarters on Thursday that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate rapidly.

“Children are going hungry, patients remain untreated, and people are dying,” he said.

“It is time to lift those restrictions immediately.”

According to latest reports, the disruption in the flow of goods has led to dramatic price hikes – up to 1,400 per cent above pre-ceasefire levels – with  basic items such as dairy, eggs, fruits and meat now absent from local markets.

In April alone, prices have risen by 50 per cent compared to March, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Shortages of cash and plummeting purchasing power have forced many families deeper into hunger.

Conditions on the ground

On Wednesday, UN’s acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Suzanna Tkalec, visited Deir al Balah and Khan Younis to assess conditions on the ground.

In Khan Younis, the team inspected the main desalination plant for southern Gaza, which has been operating at only 15 per cent capacity since early March due to electricity cuts imposed by Israel. As a result, access to clean water remains extremely limited.

They also visited two overcrowded displacement sites to evaluate living conditions.

In Deir al Balah, the UN team observed operations at a community kitchen run by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, which offers meals and training for youth, women and people with disabilities.

Severe shortages

Meanwhile, humanitarian partners are reporting severe shortages of tents, tarpaulins and other critical materials, Mr. Dujarric said.

“Warehouses are almost depleted, which is limiting shelter assistance to just a fraction of what is needed to survive.”

UN agencies continue to provide relief as best they can. UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, this week supplied 10 reproductive health kits – enough to support over 6,900 people – to six health partners, and emergency supplies to key hospitals.

More than 900 women and girls were reached with dignity kits and agency workers held around 240 sessions addressing gender-based violence, with 200 new case files opened.

Call for accountability over killing of UN staffer

Responding to a question on the deadly 19 March strike that killed a UN staff member and severely injured at least five others in Gaza, Mr. Dujarric said that Israeli authorities had reported the outcome of their internal investigation to the UN.

“There has been more cooperation and transparency on their side that we have had in these types of incidents, since the beginning of this conflict,” he said, underscoring the need to ensure accountability and transparency – for this case as well as all others.

“We have seen UN colleagues killed in Gaza or UN infrastructure attacked. And again, we call on all parties to fully comply with international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians but also the protection of UN and humanitarian staff.”