CERF allocates over $750K to assist asylum seekers in Yemen.
Yemen, a fragile state and the poorest country in the Middle East, faces a myriad of development challenges, dwindling water and oil reserves, and an enormous migratory burden. Yemen provides prima facie refugee status to Somalis, who have traditionally been the largest group of people arriving on Yemen’s shores. Drought and lack of economic opportunities in the Horn of Africa is however driving increasing numbers of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers towards Yemen.
Five thousand Ethiopians are stranded in Yemen as a result of the continuing conflict in north Yemen. IOM and UNHCR have been working closely together to determine the identity of the Ethiopian asylum seekers and their needs. Rapid needs assessments have shown that they are all economic and environmental migrants. A large number of Ethiopians originate from Wollo province and claim that draught, lack of food, and search for employment prompted them to leave their country. The large majority wish to go back to Ethiopia. Only a few women are neither asylum seekers nor do they want to go back to Ethiopia.
CERF funding of nearly $650,000 to International Organization for Migration (IOM) will provide for the immediate humane and dignified voluntary return of 500 stranded Ethiopians to Ethiopia. CERF funding of $107,000 will enable the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify and determine the status of Ethiopian asylum seekers, identify Somali refugees, and organize convoys for asylum seekers and refugees.
CERF allocates $342,000 to strengthen the UN security measures for the UN system in Yemen
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Displaced children in Yemen [Photo: IRIN]
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4 November 2009: To strengthen the security measures for the UN system, CERF allocated $342,000 to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Yemen, following a string of bomb attacks in Sana’a.
While many of the UN offices in Yemen require a substantial upgrade, the main threat to the humanitarian workers in the country stems from ongoing hostilities. In northern Yemen (Sa’ada conflict), UN and NGOs vehicles have been shot. The threat to the humanitarian workers is real and growing. For example, on 9 October 2009 a convoy of WFP-hired trucks was ambushed in the northern Yemen governorate of Al-Jawf. Humanitarian workers are not currently equipped with radios or armored vests.
Responding to the situation, UNDP will use $342,000 from CERF to strengthen UN security measures to protect 127 international and 420 national UN staff, some 160,000 IDPs and other civilians affected by the conflict.
CERF Alllocates some $2.6 Million for Assitance to IDPs in Sa'ada in Yemen
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A girl with water containers in Yemen [Photo: IRIN]
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14 August 2009: John Holmes, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), has allocated some US$2.6 million in emergency funding from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to respond to an increase in internally displaced persons (IDPs) and a deteriorating security situation in Yemen.
The funds will help kick-start critical projects to respond to growing humanitarian needs in Sa’ada for those already displaced and those who have been uprooted by recent unrest. The largest portion of the allocation, some $945,000, will support a World Food Programme (WFP) project to address the food insecurity of vulnerable families. The project will provide food assistance to some 25,000 people for three months. Some $700,000 will enable the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to provide protection and shelter assistance in Sa’ada governorate. Another $744,000 has been allocated to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide, among other things, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. UNICEF will also carry out emergency education programmes for some 50,000 vulnerable children. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been allocated some $229,000 to support emergency health needs in the affected communities.
So far in 2009, Yemen has received over $7.3 million. The ERC allocated some $5 million to humanitarian projects in Yemen earlier this year to address life-saving needs. Since 2006, the Fund has allocated some $18.7 million to United Nations agencies and the International Organization for Migration for humanitarian projects in Yemen, making it the 24th highest recipient of CERF funding.
[last update 4 January 2010]