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UN / YEMEN
STORY: UN / YEMEN
TRT: 4:08
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 16 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
FILE
1. Exterior shot, UN Headquarters
16 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
2. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“More than five years of war have severely degraded Yemen’s health infrastructure, exhausted people’s immune systems and increased acute vulnerabilities. As a result, epidemiologists warn that COVID-19 in Yemen could spread faster, more widely and with deadlier consequences than in many other countries. We are, in other words, running out of time.”
4. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Since January, at least 60,000 people have fled conflict in Al Jawf and neighbouring areas. Most have arrived in Marib, where more than 800,000 displaced people have sought refuge since 2016. If conflict expands deeper into Marib – and everything must be done to avoid that – more than 1 million people could suddenly be on the move. So, I welcome the recent moves towards a nationwide ceasefire, including the Coalition’s declaration last week. I urge all parties to join this effort, which is urgently needed not just to give Yemen a fighting chance against COVID-19, but to relieve the disproportionate burden of the war on civilians.”
6. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Of the UN’s 41 major programmes, 31 will start closing down in the next few weeks if we can’t secure additional funds. This means we will have to start eliminating many of the activities that may offer Yemenis’ best chance to avoid COVID-19.”
8. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“People who do fall sick are likely to find fewer clinics to help them. WHO estimates that 80 per cent of health services provided through the response could stop at the end of April. This could mean disbanding local health teams that have been essential in detecting and containing past disease outbreaks. We need these teams more than ever – not just to keep on top of COVID-19, but to contain a growing risk that cholera will rebound as the rainy season starts.
The humanitarian community – UN agencies, international NGOs and others – are unanimous in our position that the world’s largest aid operation cannot afford extended cuts during this unprecedented emergency. UN agencies estimate they need more than $900 million to carry them through July.”
10. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen:
“All eyes are now on the parties to the conflict. This is the time for hard
decisions. None of us should underestimate the demands that are placed
upon the leadership of both parties. The decisions now needed from both
the two parties are of existential importance for the future of the country.
I know that both the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah want to end
this conflict on the basis of a fair and just peace.”
12. Screenshot, Security Council virtual meeting
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen:
“The conversations we had with the two parties, and our
consultations with the Saudi-led Coalition among other international
actors, are continuous, detailed and constructive. I can report that we are
making very good progress in terms of reaching consensus over the
proposals, particularly on the principle of a nation-wide ceasefire.”
“COVID-19 in Yemen could spread faster, more widely and with deadlier consequences than in many other countries,” due to “severely degraded Yemen’s health infrastructure, exhausted people’s immune systems and increased acute vulnerabilities” after more than five years of conflict, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council.
United Nations Security Council today (16 Apr) held a virtual meeting on Yemen where the call for a ceasefire by the Secretary-General was initially welcomed by all warring parties, including the Houthis, the UN-recognized government and the Saudi-led coalition.
Briefing the Council via videolink, Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said despite the calls for ceasefire, the fighting ha persisted in many areas.
“Since January, at least 60,000 people have fled conflict in Al Jawf and neighbouring areas. Most have arrived in Marib, where more than 800,000 displaced people have sought refuge since 2016,” said Lowcock. If conflict expands deeper into Marib – and everything must be done to avoid that – more than 1 million people could suddenly be on the move,” he said.
Emergency Coordinator said he welcomed “the recent moves towards a nationwide ceasefire, including the Coalition’s declaration last week,” and he urged “all parties to join this effort, which is urgently needed not just to give Yemen a fighting chance against COVID-19, but to relieve the disproportionate burden of the war on civilians.”
After five years of conflict, Yemen’s infrastructure has all but collapsed, bringing the majority of its population in dire humanitarian crisis. Every month, the humanitarians are assisting some 13 million people across the country.
According to OCHA, in 2019, humanitarian agencies supported 3,100 health facilities and conducted 17 million medical consultations in Yemen,provided access to clean water and sanitation for more than 11 million people and treated nearly a million acutely malnourished children. Nearly 12 million people received food assistance every month.
However, Lowcock said, the funding for these operations is running out.
“Of the UN’s 41 major programmes, 31 will start closing down in the next few weeks if we can’t secure additional funds. This means we will have to start eliminating many of the activities that may offer Yemenis’ best chance to avoid COVID-19,” he said.
Among those programmes he listed Unicef’s assistance for families displaced by conflict or natural disasters –about one million people receiving critical supplies and nutrition programmes affecting 260,000 severely malnourished children and two million more children with moderate malnutrition.
“The humanitarian community – UN agencies, international NGOs and others – are unanimous in our position that the world’s largest aid operation cannot afford extended cuts during this unprecedented emergency. UN agencies estimate they need more than $900 million to carry them through July.”
Lowcock thanked Saudi Arabia for their pledge of USD 500 million for the UN-led response and USD 25 million for COVID-19 related activities and urged all donors to pledge generously.
Also briefing the Council via videolink from Aman in Yemen, Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen said the threat of COVID-19 has galvanized the effort towards peace among Yemenis and the international community.
“All eyes are now on the parties to the conflict. This is the time for hard decisions. None of us should underestimate the demands that are placed upon the leadership of both parties. The decisions now needed from both the two parties are of existential importance for the future of the country,” Griffits said.
“I know that both the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah want to end this conflict on the basis of a fair and just peace,” he added.
Special Envoy reported that after the UN Secretary-General made an urgent appeal for an immediate end to hostilities in Yemen on 25 March, and for the parties to focus on reaching a negotiated political settlement and doing everything possible to counter
COVID‑19, the Government of Yemen immediately welcomed the call as did the leadership of the Ansar Allah. In addition, on 8 April, the Saudi-led Coalition announced a unilateral ceasefire for an initial period of two weeks aiming to create a constructive environment for the success of UN-led efforts for peace.
“The conversations we had with the two parties, and our consultations with the Saudi-led Coalition among other international actors, are continuous, detailed and constructive. I can report that we are making very good progress in terms of reaching consensus over the proposals, particularly on the principle of a nation-wide ceasefire,” said Griffits.
Following the briefings by the two UN officials, the Security Council continued its virtual consultations on Yemen behind “ closed doors.”
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