Executive Summary

In mid-2016, the conflict in South Sudan spread into the southern region of Equatoria, which borders Uganda. Officials registered 600,000 South Sudanese refugees crossing the border into northern Uganda between July 2016 and April 2017. Bidibidi settlement, in Uganda’s Yumbe district, was opened in August 2016 to accommodate some of this refugee flow. By December 2016 the settlement was closed to new arrivals as the largest refugee settlement in the world.

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.

Endorsed by: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA); AVSI; BRAC; CARE; Danish Refugee Council (DRC); Finn Church Aid (FCA); Food for the Hungry; Humanity & Inclusion; Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); Oxfam; Plan; Save the Children; VSO; War Child Holland; Windle International Uganda; World Vision; ZOA

The launch of Uganda's new Education Response Plan for Refugees and Host Communities (ERP) is an opportunity to ensure a better future for hundreds of thousands of children.

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.