A call for renewal and strengthening of the mandate for the Group of Eminent Experts

United Nations Human Rights Council

39th session

26th September 2018

Item 10, Technical assistance and capacity building – ID on HC report on Yemen

Mr. President,

This statement is made on behalf of Save the Children and 17 civil society organisations, including organisations with current operations in Yemen.

Humanitarian Crisis in Free Fall

After almost four years of conflict, and despite all efforts to halt displacement, hunger and disease, Yemen remains the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. The suffering inflicted on Yemeni people is entirely manmade and will continue to deteriorate rapidly on all fronts without actions to end the violence.

INGOs working in Yemen are extremely worried about the new escalation of fighting in Hodeidah and the closure of key routes between Hodeidah city and the north and east of the country. The humanitarian catastrophe that has been unfolding in al-Durayhimi and the south of Hodeidah governorate will likely spread to the rest of the governorate and trigger another wave of internally displaced persons. Nearly 470,000 people have already fled Hodeidah since June, fearing for their lives amidst airstrikes and fighting on the ground.

Humanitarian organisations operating in Yemen strongly support and welcome the consultation meeting in Geneva as a first step being taken by parties to the conflict towards a political resolution.

As INGOs working in Yemen, every day we witness the devastating impact of the conflict on the lives of ordinary people, and the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Save the Children's Yemen Country Director Tamer Kirolos said it was time to put an end to the suffering of millions of Yemeni children and their families.

One year passed since the beginning of the exodus of an estimated 706,000 Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State, Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh following what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called a “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing. The newly arrived Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar have joined hundreds of thousands who were part of previous waves of displacement from Myanmar.