Attachments
Operational Context & Analysis
After ten years of conflict, Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, characterised by conflict, climate change, economic collapse, as well as the breakdown of public institutions and services. According to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview, over half of the population (an estimated 18.2 million individuals) require humanitarian assistance, including 4.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and over 60,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly 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 means that any humanitarian or protection activities must be coordinated with two separate authorities, depending on where in the country they are implemented.
While there has been a de facto continuation of the April 2022 UN-brokered truce (despite officially expiring in October 2022), the overall security situation remains unstable with frequent low-level violations in front-line areas. In lieu of a longer-term political solution to the ongoing crisis, prospects for a lasting peace remain dim, while regional developments in the Middle East and the Red Sea continue to adversely affect the security, economic, and political situation in Yemen.
The ongoing conflict and related breakdown of basic infrastructure and services, as well as limited availability of humanitarian assistance, has left many displaced individuals and households living in substandard conditions. Inadequate water and sanitation facilities contribute to frequent outbreaks of cholera, with resulting malnutrition. Compounding the severity of these needs, Yemen’s economy is in crisis, with over 80% of the population now living below the poverty line. Of the 96,907 IDP and host community households (588,835 individuals) assessed to date in 2024, almost 50% reported earning 25,000 Yemeni Rial (50 USD) or less per month, with 35% reporting no income at all. This forces some families to rely on harmful coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals, taking children out of school to work, begging, and exposing women and children to other forms of exploitation and abuse, including early marriage.
From February 2024, pre-existing tensions in Yemen’s banking sector escalated, following a series of decisions by the central banks in Aden and Sana’a that restricted transactions involving banks headquartered outside of their respective areas of control. In practice, this meant that funds could no longer be transferred between banks in the north and south of the country. Although the banks have since de-escalated the situation, the macroeconomic situation remains extremely challenging, with a shortage of hard currency, obstacles to currency exchange, and rapid depreciation of the Yemeni Rial. These developments have placed additional strain on displaced households, and impacted the implementation of humanitarian and protection activities, with some activities halted altogether, exacerbating existing protection risks.
Humanitarian access remains a major concern in Yemen. Bureaucratic impediments, along with general insecurity, the threat posed by explosive remnants of war (ERW), and the arrest and detention of aid workers, continue to hinder the delivery of humanitarian and protection activities. 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. The pervasive presence of ERW and landmines in Hodeidah, Ta’iz, and Ma’rib governorates, makes Yemen one of the most heavily mine-contaminated countries in the world.
Climactic changes, environmental degradation, and severe weather events are significant drivers of need and displacement in Yemen, and these continue to worsen in both severity and frequency year on year. The 2024 rainy season brought unprecedented flooding to all governorates, affecting 100,000 families, and severely exacerbating existing shelter, infrastructure, and protection needs. At the same time, Yemen is among the world’s worst water crises. Water scarcity is 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.