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UN / YEMEN HUMANITARIAN
STORY: UN / YEMEN HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 02:03
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DATELINE: 01 AUGUST 2017, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
01 AUGUST 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Auke Lootsma, Country Director for Yemen, United Nations Development Programme:
“Humanitarians at this point in time are asked to cover gaps that are well beyond our mandates and our capacity. I just want to go into a few reasons why this is actually possible. As you know, Yemen has been one of the poorest Arab nations, if not the poorest, with rampant poverty, corruption, poor governance, and poor infrastructure. The war I would say has just simply made it much worse.”
4. Med shot, journalist asking question
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Auke Lootsma, Country Director for Yemen, United Nations Development Programme:
“I think it should be absolutely clear that the current food security crisis is a manmade disaster not only resulting from decades of poverty and under-investment, but also as a war tactic on economic strangulation.”
6. Med shot, journalist asking question
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Auke Lootsma, Country Director for Yemen, United Nations Development Programme:
“Now, since September 2016, 1.2 million civil servants have not been paid and many businesses have collapsed. So although food may be physically available in the market, it is actually financially out of reach for many of the poor families at this point in time.”
8. Med shot, journalist asking question
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Auke Lootsma, Country Director for Yemen, United Nations Development Programme:
“Cholera is of course not new to Yemen. What caused the cholera outbreak to be so huge is the collapse of the health, water, and sanitation sector due to a lack of salaries and damaged infrastructure. For example, almost half of the health facilities are no longer functioning because they are partly of completely damaged. Doctors and nurses are not coming to work because they have not been paid and looking for income elsewhere. Garbage is piling up and water treatment plants are functioning partially because of lack of money for fuel to fuel the generators.”
10. Med shot, journalist asking question
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Auke Lootsma, Country Director for Yemen, United Nations Development Programme:
“I tend to say that I compare it to a bus full of Yemenis racing towards the edge of a cliff. Instead of hitting the brakes and turn around, the one that controls the direction of the bus keeps going and pushes the accelerator, all but certain to crash.”
12. Wide shot, press room
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Director for Yemen compared the situation in the country to a bus “racing towards the edge of a cliff; instead of hitting the brakes and turn[ing] around, the one that controls the direction of the bus keeps going and pushes the accelerator, all but certain to crash.”
Speaking to journalists in New York via videolink from Sanaa, country's capital, Auke Lootsma said the situation in Yemen is bleak with no end to the conflict in sight. He said the Yemeni people are enduring incredible hardship with 70 percent of the population, 20 million people, in need of humanitarian assistance and some 400,000 cases of cholera recorded in the past few months resulting in 1,900 deaths.
Lootsma stressed that with the lack of funding and access and the size of the crisis, humanitarians “are asked to cover gaps that are well beyond” their mandates and capacities. He said Yemen imported 90 percent of its food before the crisis and bringing food into the country has become much more difficult. In addition, almost 1.2 million civil servants have not been paid since September 2016 and many businesses have collapsed. He said “although food may be physically available in the market, it is actually financially out of reach for many of the poor families at this point in time.” He noted that it should be “absolutely clear that the current food security crisis is a man-made disaster not only resulting from decades of poverty and under-investment, but also as a war tactic on economic strangulation.”
The UNDP Country Director said cholera was not new to Yemen, but “the collapse of the health, water, and sanitation sector due to a lack of salaries and damaged infrastructure” exacerbated the situation. He added that almost half of the health facilities are no longer functioning because they are partly of completely damaged, and “doctors and nurses are not coming to work because they have not been paid and looking for income elsewhere.” Lootsma said time was running out to find the brakes to stop the bus before it goes off the cliff.
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