“Yemen is a country wracked by chronic poverty and underdevelopment, and millions of Yemenis are struggling to cope,” said Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.

“People need food, water, education and health care. But they also want to know that there is investment to secure their future. We urgently need more funding to help those in need.”

More than 10 million people in Yemen – almost half the country’s population – are either hungry or on the edge of hunger with very high rates of food insecurity. Child malnutrition rates are among the highest in the world with close to half of Yemen’s children under 5 years old – around 2 million children – suffering from stunting.

Following a visit to the country, Ms. Amos and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, called on countries, particularly those in the Gulf region, to step up humanitarian efforts in Yemen.

This year, WFP aims to provide almost 5 million people in 16 governorates with food assistance and is working to build community resilience.

“WFP is providing life-saving food assistance to almost 5 million Yemenis to break the intergenerational cycle of hunger,” said Ms. Cousin. “We will continue this vital food assistance by improving food security and nutrition but at the same time helping build resilience of these communities. We are working to ensure families themselves are able to take care of their food needs through food for work, food for training and other income generating activities.

“We count on the support of our donors and the strong partnership with the Government of Yemen to help communities free themselves from the cycle of hunger.”

During their visit, Ms. Amos and Ms. Cousin met senior Government officials, to discuss humanitarian needs and the challenges facing the country. They also met non-governmental organizations, women leaders, humanitarian partners, and representatives of the donor community.

In addition, they travelled to the city of Hudeidah, where they saw first-hand efforts to combat malnutrition and food insecurity. They visited nutrition and health care clinics supported by WFP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and saw the offloading of WFP food supplies at the Hudeidah Port. They also visited the Al Mazraq camp in Harad, where people displaced by the conflict in Sa’ada still live, and visited a centre where stranded migrants from the Horn of Africa receive assistance from the International Organization for Migration.

Yemen faces multiple humanitarian crises. Out of a population of 24 million, over half need some form of humanitarian aid. More than half of the population does not have access to clean water and proper sanitation, and one million children suffer from acute malnutrition.

In early September, a story emerged about an 8-year-old girl who bled to death on her wedding night after she was raped by her new husband, who is in his 40s. Since then, activists across the region have been discussing on various social media platforms how to combat the practice of child marriage.

A new Human Rights Watch video documents the psychological and physical harm that child marriage causes to girls. In the video, a father expresses his regret at having chosen to give up his two young daughters to marriage, and two members of the religious community and a Nobel Laureate speak about the need to abolish the practice.

“Thousands of Yemeni girls have their childhood stolen and their futures destroyed because they are forced to marry too young,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The Yemeni government should end this abusive practice.”

Members of the Rights and Freedoms Committee in the country’s National Dialogue Conference should recommend prohibiting child marriage during its final plenary session in September 2013, Human Rights Watch said.

When the committee charged with drafting a new constitution as part of the transitional period is convened, it should consider including an 18-year age minimum in the new constitution Human Rights Watch warns, adding that if no minimum age is included, parliament should pass a law setting the minimum age at 18.

The Friends of Yemen should at its meeting in New York consider increasing support for programs that boost girls’ and women’s access to education, reproductive health information and services, and protection from domestic violence, both in cities and rural areas, Human Rights Watch added.

Tawakkol Karman, the Yemeni activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, has criticized the transitional government’s failure to ban child marriage. She told Human Rights Watch that: “[Yemen’s] popular, peaceful revolution came about for the sake of fixing these societal problems. It didn’t happen just to solve political problems, but also to address societal problems, the most important being child marriage.”

A 2011 Human Rights Watch report documented severe and long-lasting harm to Yemeni girls forced by their families to marry, in some cases when they were as young as 8. Human Rights Watch spoke to 34 Yemeni girls and women. They said that marrying early meant that they lost control over their lives, including the ability to decide whether and when to bear children. They said that it had cut short their education, and some said they had been subjected to marital rape and domestic abuse.

There is no legal minimum age for girls to marry in Yemen and the only legal protection for girls is a prohibition on sexual intercourse until the age of puberty. In some cases documented by Human Rights Watch, however, girls were married before their first menstrual period and were raped by their husbands.

Yemen’s transitional authorities have failed to seriously address child marriage, Human Rights Watch said. The transition period, which began after Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down from the presidency under popular pressure in February 2012, will culminate with presidential and parliamentary elections in February 2014. As part of the transition, the six-month long National Dialogue Conference began on March 18. During the conference’s second plenary in June, it passed 363 directives, but not a single one referred to the practice of child marriage.

Yemeni government and United Nations data from 2006 shows that approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before age 15, and 52 percent are married before age 18.

Yemen has backtracked on protecting girls from forced marriage. In 1999, Yemen’s parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was then 15.

Yemen is party to a number of international treaties and conventions that explicitly – or have been interpreted to – prohibit child marriage and commit governments to take measures to eliminate the practice, including the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage.

UN treaty-monitoring bodies that oversee implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child have recommended a minimum age of 18 for marriage.

“The protesters in Change Square in 2011 risked their lives to demand equal rights for all Yemenis, and girls should be no exception,” Gerntholtz said. “Child marriage is a violation of their human rights and should be ended.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said that during the first six months of 2013, more then 46,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen, a country that has received close to half a million refugees since 2006.

“UNHCR staff and our partners, such as the Yemeni Red Crescent and the Danish Refugee Council, work daily to record new arrivals and offer them support,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva. “That help takes many forms, including food and water, first aid and transportation to transit and reception centres, hot meals, welcome packages including blankets and clothing, accommodation and counselling.”

Fleming said UNHCR had witnessed a significant change in the refugee and migrant population arriving in Yemen over the past two years, with more arrivals from Ethiopia. Previously, Somali refugees made up between one-third and one-quarter of total arrivals. Other arrivals come from Djibouti and Sudan, she said.

“Refugees and migrants are vulnerable to exploitation, violence and sexual abuse at all stages of their journeys,” Fleming said. “Boats crossing the Arabian Sea or Red Sea to Yemen are often overcrowded. Smugglers may force passengers into the water to avoid detection. Smugglers and traffickers often wait on the coast to receive the new arrivals.”

The Government of Yemen automatically recognizes Somali arrivals as refugees, while UNHCR determines the refugee status of Ethiopians and other nationals. Fleming said few Ethiopians seek asylum as many want to travel beyond Yemen or do not know how the asylum process works.

“As a result, most Ethiopians are left extremely vulnerable,” she said.

Fleming said there have been positive developments, as the number of dead or missing refugees and migrants has dropped significantly – to five people so far this year from 43 in all of 2012. Yemeni authorities have also had some success in locating smugglers’ and traffickers’ bases and cracking down on their operations.

“We are also engaged with the Yemeni Government and national and international partners. Together we are working to enhance services offered to refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants as well as find sustainable solutions,” she added.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the 2013 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan urgently requires $702 million in order to provide emergency and early recovery assistance to 7.7 million of the country’s most needy.

“Conflict and instability elsewhere in the region and the ongoing political transition in Yemen have overshadowed the humanitarian crisis,” said the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Ould Cheikh Ahmed, adding that there can be no long-term stability without addressing the humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people.

Yemen has been undergoing a democratic transition led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, who came to power in a February 2012 election. A major milestone was achieved in March of this year with the opening of the national dialogue conference that will feed into a constitution-making process and pave the way for general elections in 2014.

However, more than 13 million people – over half the population – are still in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. Food insecurity and malnutrition persist in the country, as well as outbreaks of fatal diseases including measles. Maternal mortality also remains high at 365 for every 100,000 live births.

The appeal has been revised from January, slightly decreasing from $716 million to $702 million as a result of “improved prioritization and focus for the remaining part of 2013,” OCHA said. Within the revised plan, humanitarian partners have also identified the most critical activities that will help people in greatest and most urgent need.

The Plan is currently only 38 per cent funded, and this shortfall has already led to a reduction in the provision of life-saving assistance.

“The almost complete lack of support for early recovery, livelihoods and capacity-building activities is limiting the ability of humanitarian partners to build the resilience of Yemeni communities,” OCHA said in a news release.

“I urge international and regional donors to provide funding for these critical activities that will have immediate impact, saving the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable Yemenis,” Mr. Cheikh Ahmed said.

“Yemen is in the heart of its transition,” Special Adviser Jamal Benomar told the 15-member Council, presenting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report. “In a country awash with arms and a history of conflict, such an inclusive process of dialogue is a great achievement.”

The second round of the UN-backed National Dialogue Conference includes 565 delegates representing a cross-section of Yemeni society.

Just back from the capital, Sana’a, Mr. Benomar said “the ‘dialogue’ is extending well beyond the Conference” with men and women engaged in discussions and debates about the problems of their country and its possible future in seminars, roundtables and open tents in town squares.

“As President [Abdrabuh Mansour] Hadi has remarked, we are engaged in more than a political transition; we are witnessing a transformation of the political culture,” Mr. Benomar noted.

The ongoing conference will feed into a constitution-making process and pave the way for general elections in 2014. Preparations for the electoral process are underway, including steps to create a new biometric voter registry, with registration due to begin in September.

The UN has been providing support in Yemen’s transition in four key areas: political facilitation; technical support; capacity-building; and a public information and awareness campaign.

“We understand that there are no guarantees of what lies ahead,” Mr. Benomar told the Council. “It is an undertaking of great hope in a fragile environment, where a range of perspectives and diverse interested are seeking to realize a new and better order.”

He noted that to develop a new constitution, the National Dialogue will need to find a consensual settlement to the ‘Southern question’ linked to southern separatists.

“In the South, the streets are heating up,” Mr. Benomar said, adding that “pent-up resentment at more than two decades of unaddressed grievances and systematic marginalization.”

Since February, there was been a “significant increase” in the frequency and number of demonstrators, some resulting in injuries and deaths.

Two Commissions have been established to address the unlawful or illegitimate seizure of property and unjust dismissal from military and civil service, but without additional resources for the Commissions and further confidence-building measures by the Government or tangible improvements in people’s daily lives, “the voices of discontent will amplify, narrowing the space for dialogue,” he said.

The Special Advisor reiterated to the Council that the only peaceful route to progress is through open dialogue and, importantly, addressing the legacy of the past. He urged Yemeni authorities to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the events of 2011 and to adopt a law on transitional justice.

He also noted the steps taken by President Hadi to restructure the country’s armed forces, a move welcomed in April by Mr. Ban and the Security Council, but stressed that “much more remains to be done to ensure the professionalization” of the forces.

Highlighting other challenges to the country, Mr. Benomar noted that despite all efforts to counter it, Al Qaida remains a lethal threat in the Arabian Peninsula.

In addition, the UN official made reference to “those who wish to undermine the transition,” citing sabotage attacks on the country’s energy exports and its electricity lines, costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Those responsible for these crimes must be brought to account,” Mr. Benomar stressed.

He also cited a partisan war through “misinformation, fabrication and incitement” of the media for political means, and an increase in the assassination of mid and high level security officials and the apparent amassing of weapons among political factions.

“Arms smuggling into Yemen continues,” he said, noting that several shipments have recently been seized.

Also, the humanitarian crisis in the country “continues unabated,” with more than half of the population in need of humanitarian assistance to access food, healthcare, safe water and sanitation, and more than one million children suffering from acute malnutrition, Mr. Benomar said.

Meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that more than 90 per cent of the internally displaced people from Abyan, southern Yemen, have returned home.

The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) dropped from 68,533 last December to 6,133 in April, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told journalists in Geneva.

“The fighting was subsiding, the overall situation looked better and there was an ongoing political process,” Mr. Laerke said.

He added that the resumption of some basic services and reopening of markets had encouraged some people to return, but shelter and agricultural livelihoods remain a concern. As some 80 per cent of the population in the south were farmers, it was critical to assist them in restarting their production.

In addition, the prospects for Yemenis in the north to return to their homes “remains distant,” Mr. Benomar said.

The international humanitarian community has sought $716 million for the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan to provide emergency and early recovery assistance to 7.7 million of the country’s most vulnerable. However, the plan is so far only 31 per cent funded. The early recovery sector was only 8.3 per cent funded of the $31.5 million needed.

In May, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had said the country was that a crossroads that could either lead to increased stability or plunge the country back into conflict.

“There will be no political transition if we don’t deal with the humanitarian situation,” Mr. Ahmed told a news conference in Geneva.

On April 27, 2013, a trial court in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, ordered the probe of Saleh and other former ranking officials – including his nephews Yahya Saleh and Tareq Saleh.

Yemeni prosecutors should promptly comply with the order and also reopen the original investigation of the so-called Friday of Dignity massacre, Human Rights Watch said.

Gunmen in civilian clothes killed at least 45 protesters and wounded 200 others during a rally in Sanaa, part of the 2011 uprising against the Saleh government. The initial government investigation into the killings was marred by political interference, a Human Rights Watch report found.

“The court ordered investigation of former president Saleh and several top aides for the ‘Friday of Dignity’ massacre may prove a breakthrough for justice in Yemen, but only if prosecutors now do their jobs,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“The authorities should leave no stone unturned until they have identified the people responsible for these killings and held them to account.”

A day after the court order, Attorney General Ali al-Awash also ordered an investigation of Saleh and his son Ahmed Ali, until recently the commander of the elite Republican Guard, in connection with the May 2011 shelling of a home belonging to the country’s powerful al-Ahmar tribe.

The strike killed several people including tribal mediators. At the time of the attack, the sheikhs had been trying to end a political standoff between Saleh and al-Ahmar family members who supported the uprising.

In October 2012, lawyers for victims of the Friday of Dignity massacre filed a motion seeking the indictment of the former president and senior officials, who were not among the 78 suspects already on trial for the killings. The court suspended the trial pending a ruling on the motion. Most of the defendants had been registered as fugitives from justice.

Investigations of former government officials are complicated by an immunity law that Yemen’s parliament passed as part of the political deal under which Saleh stepped down in February 2012, ending the year-long popular uprising. The amnesty grants sweeping immunity to Saleh and all those who served with him during his 33-year rule. Victims’ lawyers hope the new investigation will serve as a test case of the immunity law. The law would not prevent the prosecution of Saleh and others by courts outside the country with jurisdiction over international crimes, Human Rights Watch said.

The attack on a rally that demonstrators called the “Friday of Dignity” was the deadliest against protesters of the uprising. Human Rights Watch research found that the Central Security Forces, a paramilitary force then headed by Yahya Saleh, withdrew from the area of the demonstration the night before the killings and largely failed to intervene once the shootings began. Prosecutors never questioned the Salehs and other top officials in connection with the killings, and the former president also dismissed the attorney general at the time, replacing him with al-Awash, just six weeks after he began investigating possible government involvement.

President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who succeeded Saleh, removed Yahya Saleh as Central Security Forces chief in December 2012. Last year Hadi also removed Tareq Saleh from his positions heading the Presidential Guard and the 3rd Brigade of the Republican Guard, but in April he appointed Tareq Saleh as defense attaché to Germany. The former president remains in Yemen as head of his political party, the General People’s Congress.

Since 2006, when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began gathering data, close to half a million people have arrived in Yemen by taking the perilous boat journey from the Horn of Africa, the agency’s spokesperson, Adrian Edwards, told reporters in Geneva.

“Yemen is a historical transit hub for migrants and stands out in the region for its hospitality towards refugees,” said Mr. Edwards, adding that the country hosts more than 242,000 refugees. Over 231,000 of these are of Somali origin.

Mr. Edwards noted that recorded arrivals in Yemen of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants have been rising in each of the past six years. Last year, 107,500 people made the journey. The arrival rate so far this year compares to 33,634 arrivals in the same period of 2012.

Somalis arriving in Yemen are automatically recognized as refugees by the authorities, while UNHCR conducts refugee status determination for other nationals.

According to the agency, Yemen is frequently used as a transit point by Ethiopians looking to travel to the Gulf States and beyond. Few Ethiopians decide to seek asylum. There are many reports of mistreatment, abuse, or torture among people who make the journey by smugglers boats.

“Conflict and instability in Yemen have limited the ability of the authorities to address trafficking, particularly along the Red Sea coast where Yemeni smugglers and traffickers are often waiting to receive new arrivals from the Horn of Africa,” said Mr. Edwards.

“However, recently the Government has been active in detecting smuggler hideouts and taking action,” he added.

Out of the total number of those arriving this year, some 7,518 arrived in January; 10,145 in February; and 1,806 in March. UNHCR is still recording arrivals for April.

“The international community urgently needs to work with and support the Governments in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf to strengthen the management of migration and national borders, combat transnational organized crime and uphold migrants’ human rights,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement.

“In a desperate attempt to seek better livelihood opportunities, many migrants have suffered gross physical abuse and severe economic and sexual exploitation. Many of them, including children, are stranded under extremely difficult circumstances. Their plight must be urgently addressed,” he added, calling for financial support for humanitarian agencies providing aid.

Last year a record 107,500 African refugees and migrants, mainly Ethiopians and Somalis, made the dangerous journey in overcrowded boats to Yemen, the largest influx since 2006 when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began compiling such statistics, in hope of finding a better life in the Arabian Peninsula.

In 2011, the UNHCR estimated that more than 100 migrants drowned or went missing en route.

Irregular migrants are extremely vulnerable due to abuse and extortion by smugglers and traffickers. Most migrants have no legal documents and have limited access to livelihoods and basic services. Others fall prey to traffickers.

About 22 per cent of those landing in Yemen are women and girls. Many try to reach Saudi Arabia, but by the time they reach Haradh City in northern Yemen, the majority of this vulnerable group cannot be accounted for. Others suffer repeated sexual and gender-based violence along the journey, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.

Between 15,000 and 25,000 irregular migrants are stranded in and around Haradh City in northern Yemen, while others are in Aden in the south. They depend entirely on the generosity of local Yemenis and humanitarian organizations such as the International Organization for Migration and the Yemeni Red Crescent Society to cover basic food, medical and shelter needs.

Humanitarian agencies have for years organized voluntary flights for thousands of migrants in Yemen to return home. This is a life-saving measure for those who have no other recourse, Mr. Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said, but in the long run, more sustainable solutions need to be found involving all stakeholders.

Between them, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA – are responsible for over half of the almost US$100 billion total annual global trade in conventional weapons.

The same five states will be pivotal to finalizing an effective Arms Trade Treaty with strong human rights protections at the conference taking place at the UN from 18-28 March.

All this week in the run-up to that historic meeting, Amnesty International activists and supporters are holding a “Global Week of Action” to call on world leaders to adopt an effective Arms Trade Treaty with strong human rights protections.

“It’s clear that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are responsible for the lion’s share of arms deals across borders – and so collectively they must shoulder the greatest burden in bringing the poorly regulated global arms trade in check,” said Helen Hughes, researcher on arms transfers at Amnesty International.

The 12-page briefing, Major powers fuelling atrocities, includes examples of arms transfers from each of the five countries to states around the world, where they are likely to be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

According to the briefing, the USA – by far the world’s largest arms trader – frequently exports “non-standard ammunition” to its friends and allies. Rather than being US-made, these arms and equipment are sourced from abroad – typically from the former Soviet Union and Eastern European companies.

It adds, that a  September 2012 contract between the US military and Yemen lists 1 million rounds of sniper rifle ammunition as well as thousands of RPG rockets and mortar bombs. The USA has become Yemen’s largest supplier of military equipment, and in 2011 delivered arms worth US$4.8 million.

The USA is among countries that have tried to weaken the draft text of the Arms Trade Treaty by seeking to exclude certain types of weapons and ammunition from its scope, Amnesty says.

Amnesty International is pressing for the final treaty to cover all types of weapons and munitions for use in military and internal security operations, as well as related equipment, parts and technology.

“No opt-outs should be allowed, and to be effective, the treaty must have a ‘Golden Rule’ requiring states to halt arms exports when there is a substantial risk the arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law,” said Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s Head of Arms Control and Human Rights.

“Also, the treaty should completely ban the transfer of arms that would aid or assist in crimes under international law, including extra-judicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances.”

State-owned companies in China account for the bulk of the country’s exports of conventional arms. In recent years they have shipped to countries including Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, the briefing says.

France has sold vehicles that can be militarized (“véhicules civils militarisables”) to Sudan, where they have been used by government-backed Janjaweed militia who have committed gross human rights violations in the country’s Darfur region, according to the briefing.

Syria historically received the majority of its weapons and munitions from the Soviet Union, and has continued to do so from Russia, the world’s second-largest arms trader by value, according to Amnesty.

Since 2011 when protesters were being killed across the country for calling for freedoms and even after the situation escalated into an internal armed conflict between government and opposition forces in July 2012, Russia and China have blocked efforts at the UN to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Syria.  Amnesty International has documented a range of Russian and Soviet-era arms and military equipment – ranging from aircraft to cluster bombs – being used in Syria.

“While it won’t be a panacea for all of the world’s misuse of arms, if we get a strong Arms Trade Treaty it will be an important step towards achieving much more security and human rights protection for billions of people who today live in fear,” said Wood.

“Despite progress, Yemen’s transition remains fragile,” Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said at the opening of the latest ‘Friends of Yemen’ meeting in London.

Thirty-nine organizations and countries attended the meeting to discuss the political, economic, security and humanitarian sectors in Yemen, which has been undergoing a democratic transition, under the leadership of President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour, who came to power in the February 2012 election.

Feltman noted that the meeting comes at a “critical juncture” in the transition process – just after the anniversary of Hadi’s election and on the eve of the start of the much anticipated all-inclusive national dialogue, which will feed into a constitution-making progress and pave the way for general elections to be held in 2014.

“President Hadi and the Government have called for sustained international support to Yemeni efforts to keep the process on track. The Friends of Yemen should live up to this call,” he told participants, reminding them that they have a solemn responsibility to stand by the people of Yemen and see the transition succeed.

In the outcome document from the meeting, participants, among other things, stressed their full support for the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Yemen, and reiterated the importance for the transition to be inclusive and a Yemeni-led process.

Also speaking at the meeting, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said the country stands at a “serious crossroad in its transition” with critical stages still ahead such as the upcoming national dialogue conference, building a new constitution and electoral reform.

“All this against a grave and serious backdrop of a humanitarian crisis for which funding remains critically short, a fragile economy with Yemenis yet to feel a tangible impact on their daily lives, and multiple conflicts continuing across the country…” he stated.

On the positive side, he said the national dialogue conference is a sign that “there is a new politics in the making in Yemen.” The UN has been aiding the preparations for the conference, which is being organized by the “most inclusive committee in Yemen’s political history” – including a range of political party leaders, youth, women, members of the Al Houthi armed group and southern separatists.

In addition, the UN in Yemen developed an Integrated Programme and established a Trust Fund to pool international aid for non-humanitarian projects. Pledges currently stand at $17 million.

Benomar also urged Yemen to establish a commission of inquiry to address transitional justice, and to reach consensus on how to address the legacy of the past, saying that “only with these steps, can Yemen open a new page and ensure a path to national reconciliation.”

Ahead of today’s meeting, UN aid agencies and their partners stressed that there would be no prospects for recovery and development in Yemen unless the humanitarian situation was urgently addressed.

In the past two years, violence forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. Most of those fleeing the violence last year in the south have now returned home. The humanitarian community said today that for the returns to be sustainable, “urgent assistance is required to restore damaged infrastructure and basic services and to re-establish law and order.”

The insecurity also led to the near-collapse of most basic services and an increase in poverty, causing alarming rates of food insecurity and malnutrition. More than 10 million people – almost half the country’s population – are estimated to need food assistance, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Child malnutrition rates are also among the highest in the world with close to half of Yemen’s children under five years – two million children – stunted and one million acutely malnourished.

The 2013 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan called for $716 million to provide emergency and early recovery assistance to 7.7 million of the country’s most vulnerable. The figure represents a 22 per cent increase over last year’s plan, which was only 58 per cent funded.

“New donor commitments towards the Humanitarian Response Plan will be critical – not only to addressing human suffering but also to make the progress towards recovery irreversible,” the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said in a press release issued on behalf of the Yemen Humanitarian Country Team.

“If stability is to be maintained and the cycle of violence broken, root causes of the conflict must be addressed, especially unemployment and poverty,” said the Team, which comprises 89 international and national organizations, including UN agencies, under the leadership of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator.

The Team called 2013 a crucial year for assistance, and also a “year of opportunity” to focus on building Yemenis’ resilience through restoration of livelihoods and capacity building for local organizations and communities.