UN / YEMEN

UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council that “providing timely and unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations is not only the fundamental prerequisite to any meaningful humanitarian response but also an obligation under humanitarian law. "UNIFEED-UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:59
• Production Date: 3 March 2016
• Asset Language: Arabic; English
• Personal Subject: STEPHEN O'BRIEN
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: YEMEN
• MAMS Id: 1576934
• Parent Id: 1576934
• Alternate Title: unifeed160303c

Description

STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 01:59
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 03 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

03 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Providing timely and unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations is not only the fundamental prerequisite to any meaningful humanitarian response, but also an obligation under IHL. I call upon the Council to request all parties in no uncertain terms to stop any denial of access and facilitate lifesaving needs immediately.”
4. Med shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“UN agencies and partners continue to deliver assistance often at grave risks across all sectors. In February for example over 3 million people received WFP food assistance. Over 400,000 more people than the month before. The humanitarian community remains committed to expanding its overall response to 13.4 million people this year in Yemen.”
6. Med shot, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O'Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“I underscore the urgent need for this Council and the international community more broadly, to impress upon the parties to this conflict theor obligations to take greater measures to protect civilians, to facilitate unconditional and sustained access to all parts of Yemen. I also ask the Council to press the parties to resume peace talks and agree to a cessation of hostilities.”
8. Med shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany, Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations:
“Despite the significant improvements in the humanitarian situation in my country and particularly in the areas liberated from the Houthis militias, humanitarian needs for my people in Yemen, particularly in areas under the control of the militias, continue to be very large.”
10. Med shot, delegates
11. Wide shot, Security Council

Storyline

Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council today (3 Mar) that “providing timely and unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations is not only the fundamental prerequisite to any meaningful humanitarian response, but also an obligation under IHL (International Humanitarian Law).

O'Brien called upon the Council “to request all parties in no uncertain terms to stop any denial of access and facilitate lifesaving needs immediately.”

The UN official said that “UN agencies and partners continue to deliver assistance often at grave risks across all sectors” noting that In February over 3 million people received food assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP), “over 400,000 more people than the month before.”

O’Brien underscored “the urgent need for this Council and the international community more broadly, to impress upon the parties to this conflict their obligations to take greater measures to protect civilians, to facilitate unconditional and sustained access to all parts of Yemen.”

For his part, Yemeni Ambassador Khaled Hussein Mohamed Alyemany remarked that “despite the significant improvements in the humanitarian situation in my country and particularly in the areas liberated from the Houthis militias, humanitarian needs for my people in Yemen, particularly in areas under the control of the militias, continue to be very large.”

Last month, the Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, urged the UN Security Council and the wider international community to support the effort to secure a cessation of hostilities and open a new round of talks that could open the way to ending the year-long conflict between various factions, which has already killed thousands of people, displaced 2.5 million and imperiled the food security of 7.6 million, has continued unabated, pushing back the calendar.