Yemen's Crisis

Many observers describe the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Nearly 80 percent of the country’s 28 million residents require assistance, and more than 7 million people are at risk of famine. Providing humanitarian assistance presents many challenges, as fighting and blockades frequently impede humanitarian access, and combatants divert aid supplies for political and financial gain. This discussion will examine how the dynamics of Yemen’s conflict help shape the country’s humanitarian situation, and participants will explore potential avenues to address issues of aid access.

Yemen's Crisis

featuring

Cédric Schweizer

Head of Delegation in Yemen, International Committee of the Red Cross

with discussion from

Dr. J. Stephen Morrison

Senior Vice President and Director, CSIS Global Health Policy Center

Kimberly Flowers

Director, CSIS Global Food Security Project

Moderated by

Dr. Jon B. Alterman

Senior Vice President, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and Director, CSIS Middle East Program

Thursday, May 21, 2015 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW / Second Floor Conference Center

Cédric Schweizer has served as the head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen since April 2013. Schweizer currently leads a team of 250 staff working to provide protection and assistance to victims of armed conflict in Yemen. Over the course of his 14 year career at ICRC, Schweizer has served in leadership roles for the organization's operations in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Burundi , the West Bank, Guinea, Ethiopia, and West and Central Africa. He previously worked at the Geneva-based law firm Ringgenberg & Schulthess. Schweizer obtained his M.A. in law from the Université de Geneve in Switzerland.

J. Stephen Morrison is senior vice president at CSIS and director of its Global Health Policy Center. Morrison writes widely, has directed several high-level commissions, and is a frequent commentator on U.S. foreign policy, global health, Africa, and foreign assistance. He served in the Clinton administration, as committee staff in the House of Representatives, and taught for 12 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin and is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College.

Kimberly Flowers is director of the CSIS Global Food Security Project, which examines and highlights the impact of food security on U.S. strategic global interests. The project evaluates current efforts and provides long-term, strategic guidance to policymakers to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance programs are efficient, effective, and sustainable. Prior to this, she was the communications director for Fintrac, an international development company focusing on hunger eradication and poverty alleviation through agricultural solutions. From 2005 to 2011, she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, leading strategic communications for the Feed the Future initiative after working in Ethiopia, Jamaica, and Haiti as a development, outreach, and communications officer.

Jon B. Alterman is senior vice president at CSIS, holds the Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and directs the Center’s Middle East Program. Prior to joining CSIS in 2002, he served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State and as a special assistant to the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. He is a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel and served as an expert adviser to the Iraq Study Group (also known as the Baker-Hamilton Commission). He teaches at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and is an associate fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.