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Yemen + 1 more

Yemen UNHCR Weekly Update, 17 - 30 November 2017

Attachments

KEY FIGURES

20.7 million people in need

2,014,026 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

89 per cent of IDPs displaced for more than a year

956,076 IDP returnees

1,015,375 recipients of CRIs since March 2015

280,539 refugees and asylum seekers

Funding USD 114.6 M requested in 2017

Operational Update

The vulnerability of the Yemeni and refugee population has escalated dramatically since restrictions were placed on commercial and humanitarian activities at land, air and sea ports on 6 November.

While limited humanitarian assistance recently reached the country, the blockade continues to impact all areas of life, with Yemen still on a path towards famine. Soaring needs due to the lack of and rising price of fuel, water and medical supplies, can only be addressed through the easing and full resumption of both humanitarian and commercial activities.

UNHCR is particularly alarmed for the well-being of persons of concern. Three years of hostilities have forced waves of Yemenis to seek shelter in safer locations, many living in overcrowded collective shelters, undignified spontaneous settlements or renting rooms in cities and towns and at risk of eviction. Across the country, two million internally displaced Yemenis are struggling to absorb the latest economic shocks resulting in families reducing their food intake to dangerous levels by skipping meals or out of sheer desperation, taking the difficult decision to return to their warimpacted homes in frontline areas.

Furthermore, the refugee population, who number over 280,000, continue to be disproportionately affected by the current crisis. UNHCR carried out a rapid assessment this week of vulnerable families receiving financial support, with 100 per cent of those interviewed indicating that the level of assistance no longer covers their minimum needs due to price hikes on essential household items. Despite the scale of the crisis, humanitarian activities in Yemen are hugely underfunded. Of the US $114.6 million required by UNHCR to meet the needs of the most vulnerable refugees and internally displaced, only $53.8 million has been received so far, representing less than half of what is needed.