Attachments
Operational Context & Analysis
After more than a decade of conflict, Yemen remains one of the world’s most complex and protracted humanitarian crises. The country continues to face the compounded impacts of conflict, climate change, economic collapse, and the near-total breakdown of public services and institutions. According to the 2025 Humanitarian Needs Response Plan (HNRP), over half of the population, an estimated 19.5million people, require humanitarian assistance, including 4.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and over 61,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia.
The administration of the country remains divided between the Internationally Recognised Government (IRG) in the south, including Aden, and the de facto authorities (DFA) in the north, including Sana’a. In practice, this division requires humanitarian and protection activities to be coordinated separately with the respective authorities in each area, each of whom applies its own administrative procedures.
While there has been a de facto continuation of the April 2022 UN-brokered truce, which officially expired in October 2022, the overall security situation remains volatile, with intermittent violations along the front-line and sporadic armed clashes. In lieu of a longer-term political solution, prospects for a durable peace remain limited. Regional developments in the Middle East and the Red Sea have also had an adverse impact on Yemen’s fragile economy and security environment.
The prolonged conflict and breakdown of basic infrastructure and public services, combined with the limited reach of humanitarian assistance, have left many displaced individuals and households living in substandard conditions. Inadequate water and sanitation facilities continue to contribute to recurrent outbreaks of cholera and malnutrition. Yemen’s economy remains in severe crisis, with over 80 per cent of the population now living below the poverty line. According to UNHCR assessments in 2025 across Yemen, covering 189,214 IDP and host community individuals, 53.2 per cent of households reported earning 25,000 Yemeni Rial (=USD 50) or less per month, and 43.4 per cent reporting having no income at all. In this context, many families are increasingly resorting to harmful coping mechanisms such as skipping meals, withdrawing children out of school, begging, and/or resorting to early marriage, exposing women and children to heightened risks of exploitation and abuse.
At the same time, the humanitarian response has been severely affected by funding constraints. Reduced and delayed funding in 2025 has forced humanitarian actors, including UNHCR, to scale back assistance and prioritize only the most critical life-saving activities. These funding gaps have further strained already vulnerable displaced households and limited the ability of humanitarian partners to respond adequately to growing needs.
Yemen’s macroeconomic situation has deteriorated further in 2025, and remains extremely volatile, marked by liquidity shortages, sharp exchange rate fluctuations, and continued currency depreciation. At the same time the humanitarian sector has also been deeply affected by funding gaps and shrinking operational space in DFA-controlled areas. These developments have placed additional strain on displaced households, and impacted the implementation of humanitarian and protection activities, with some activities halted altogether, heightening existing protection risks.
Humanitarian access remains a major concern in Yemen. Bureaucratic impediments, localized insecurity, the widespread presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW), and the arrest and detention of aid workers, continue to hinder the delivery of life-saving assistance.
The detention of UN and humanitarian workers along with unauthorized entries into UN Offices by authorities in Sana’a and other locations in northern Yemen remains a grave concern, making it increasingly difficult to provide lifesaving assistance to the displaced and Yemeni people. With the majority detained in 2024-2025, to date, some 59 UN staff remain in detention with some since 2021. The UN remains fully committed to securing the release of its staff, while also resolved to support the displaced and Yemeni people across the country with vital lifesaving humanitarian assistance based on the principles of impartiality, humanity, neutrality and independence.
Restrictions on the movements of Yemeni female aid workers present a particular challenge to the delivery of culturally appropriate outreach and support activities, where the presence of female staff is essential.
Meanwhile, the pervasive presence of landmines and ERW especially in Hodeidah, Ta’iz, and Ma’rib governorates, makes Yemen one of the most heavily mine-contaminated countries in the world, impeding safe access to services, hampering returns and causing civilian casualties.1 Climactic shocks, environmental degradation, and extreme weather events continue to intensify in both frequency and severity, driving new and secondary displacement. The 2025 rainy season brought extensive flooding to governorates across Yemen, affecting over 460,000 people, and further exacerbating shelter, infrastructure, and protection needs.
At the same time, Yemen is among those facing world’s worst water crises, with part of Yemen experiencing drought and growing food insecurity. Water scarcity is also a growing concern, with steadily declining ground water levels. This has the potential to further aggravate tensions in the country, as competition over access to diminishing water supplies increases.