Doha Hosts More Than 90 Regional, International

Doha Hosts More Than 90 Regional, International Organizations to Discuss Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen


2/28/2016 |


More than 90 regional and international humanitarian organizations and 150 relief experts meet together to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Yemen throughout work sessions which began today. The sessions were entitled 'The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen: Challenges and Prospects for Humanitarian Response'. 
Organized by QC and in partnership with 13 regional and international organizations, the conference seeks to unify the vision of the active partners regarding the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. It seeks to strengthen the exchange of information and reinforce the follow-up mechanisms related to identifying the needs of the affected. The needs will be categorized based on their type and the geographical distribution of the areas. In addition, the conference aims at improving the action plans and initiatives between the partners. 
The workshops and sessions of the first two days concentrate on evaluating the humanitarian condition in Yemen and identifying the needs of the different humanitarian fields such as education, health, water, sanitation, livelihood, economic empowerment, shelter, food and security. As for the third day, the meeting will be about displaying results, inaugurating initiatives, signing partnerships and alliances, and coordinating between field actors. 
Abdul Raqeeb Fatah, Minister of Local Administration and Head of the High Relief Committee in Yemen, stressed the fact that the conference is, for the first time, establishing a clear and scientific relief database in Yemen based on scientific and field standards. 
On the sideline of the conference, the Yemeni Minister spoke about the comprehensive survey that was conducted in 12 Yemeni governorates (out of 22 governorates) to identify the needs of the people and the suitable mechanisms for field work. 
He also said that such conference is a real step towards achieving coordination between all partners through King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aids, Qatar Charity Society, or the Red Crescent organizations in the countries of the Cooperation Council and other humanitarian organizations and institutions. 
He added, "We look forward to see 2016 stage of relief work free of errors and mistakes that usually occur during crises. We hope it would be based on coordination and evaluation as two complimentary and consecutive processes." The Yemeni Minister pointed that the conference is based on 4 main plans: the High Relief Committee in Yemen, King Salman for Relief and Humanitarian Aids, Qatar Charity and United Nations Office\ OCHA plans. He said, "These plans will be the actual phase of creating relief work based on science, data and information. The work will not be random and repeating committed mistakes would be avoided."

The Yemeni Minister invited the donors, from countries and organizations, to join the implementation of a comprehensive plan for short and long terms for the relief of the Yemeni people and rehabilitation of service facilities. 
"We are mainly depending on creating relief work composed of two stages. The first would be urgent aids focused on people; the second would be about local development, mainly interested in reactivating services such as water, electricity, health and rehabilitating the infrastructure destroyed by the war," said he. 
As for holding a conference for donors from different countries and governments, he clarified that, "Relief work is the responsibility of the humanitarian organizations and Red Crescent societies. We will also urgently plead through the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council that the governments would design plans that match and are in harmony with the plans of the international and humanitarian organizations and Red Crescent societies". 
He also announced about a meeting that will be held on the 7th of next March. The meeting will set the foundation of a coordination and organization office for the relief work in Yemen. During the meeting, a comprehensive and unified plan for the countries of the Cooperation Council will be designed for the support of Yemen in different fields. 
The Yemeni Minister highlighted the fact that the initiators responsible for holding this conference estimated the amount of money needed for covering the Yemenis' needs for 6 months only to be around 2,000,400,000 USD, while the Yemeni government estimated it to be around 1,000,400,000 USD. 
He stressed the fact that such numbers are based on estimations. They might not be enough to revive Yemen nor to reestablish a normal life considering the fact that the war is still going and its impacts are destructive. 
For his part, Abdullah Al Ruwaili, Director of Humanitarian Aids Management at King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aids, clarified that the Yemeni crisis needs huge support in order for the country's different sectors to be covered. He pointed to the amount of urgent aids Yemen needs as estimated by the UN, which was around 2,500,000,000 USD. 
Al Ruwaili said that the disparity in the estimation of needs is ruled by the surveys actually conducted. "The situation in Yemen does not give us the opportunity to estimate the needs; however, the crisis shows that Yemen is in great need. We, in the Kingdom and Gulf, are committed to assisting our brothers and sisters in Yemen in whatever ways possible," he added. 
Director of Relief Management at King Salman Center said, "Aiding our Yemeni brothers and sisters is not unnatural. We are bonded and they are like family to us. It is our duty to help them. If the crisis exacerbates, the results will not negatively affect Yemen only. It will affect us all." King Salman Center, as pointed Al Ruwaili, represents the humanitarian work in Saudi Arabia. It is one of the most active actors in solving the crisis mainly because the Kingdom is near Yemen, geographically speaking. "We offer our vision to solving this crisis because we are a neighboring country and we will be doing so in cooperation with the international labor system," he said.  
For his part, Mohammed Ali Al Ghamdi, Executive Director of International Development at QC and the Coordinator of the Conference, said, "This conference is the first of its kind about the humanitarian situation in Yemen. Through this conference, we, along with our partners, seek to come out with an international initiative through which we could design a joint humanitarian response plan; one that joins between urgent needs and an early phase of recovery adopted by all the participants". 
He also pointed to a comprehensive survey that includes several sectors conducted by QC to assess the damages resulting from the Yemeni crisis in cooperation with a team of qualified Yemenis. The survey was based on a scientific methodology and is now available at the conference. 
The survey allows QC, its partners and the humanitarian actors to find out the amount of damage that is now in Yemen and the priorities which must be adopted so as to meet the needs of the affected Yemenis. It covers all the sectors and will be discussed during the technical workshops. 
The Yemeni crisis is considered one of the greatest around the world considering the number of those who were affected. The population of Yemen is 26,000,000 people; more than 80% of them were affected by the crisis. 
As estimated by the UN, the rate of people living under poverty line reached 60% (an increase of 35% in comparison with the rate before the crisis). 
In Yemen, the service sectors are witnessing a severe breakdown especially in health, education and water as shown through figures and statistics estimated by humanitarian organizations and agencies. 
QC's survey estimated the number of projects which were affected in the fields of water and sanitation to be 735 projects (i.e. 17% of the total number of projects in the targeted areas), while the number of affected families because of the damages in the water and sanitation sectors to be around 656,747 families. 
It also showed that the sector of education was affected in around 78% of the affected territories. The number of schools included in the survey was about 2,987; almost 949 of them were affected (i.e. 32% of the total number of schools). 488,638 students could no longer continue their education because of the damage that happened to the educational institution. 
QC's survey showed that the number of affected health facilities reached 227. The survey included destroyed or lost furniture and disposables. 
In addition, it showed that in the field of food all of Yemen was affected. The total number of affected families who could not get enough food was about 861,458 families. 
The number of homeless people reached 2,500,000; that is 8 times what was initially reported when the crisis first started. Taiz, Amran, Hajjah, Sana'a, and Abyan were some of the most Yemeni governorates affected by the crisis. The total number of displaced people from all of these governorates reached more than 1,500,000.