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.

“We had hoped we would not have to do it again, but today we are asking for $4.4 billion for the whole of 2013,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a joint press conference with other UN officials in Geneva.

“That’s more than half the combined total of all of our other appeals which cover 16 countries from Afghanistan through to Somalia,” she said.

The appeal, revised from $1.5 billion in January, covers relief activities for the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) and the Regional Response Plan (RRP).

Of the $4.4 billion, $1.4 billion will go to SHARP, assisting Syrians inside Syria, and $3 billion to RRP, which provides life-saving aid and protection to refugees in the immediate surrounding region. So far, $1.2 billion have been received.

In addition to this, the Governments of Lebanon and Jordan are seeking $450 million and $380 million, respectively, to support the efforts to provide education, health and other services to the refugees who are now in their countries.

“We estimate that 6.8 million people now need urgent help. That is one in three Syrians in need of urgent humanitarian assistance,” Ms. Amos said, adding that between January and April, the number of people displaced in Syria more than doubled. “These are massive figures, but those figures mask a human tragedy.”

Since March 2011, fighting between the Syrian Government and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad has killed more than 80,000 people. In addition, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that some 1.6 million Syrians have fled their country to escape conflict, but notes that this number quickly escalating.

“We expect that we might reach 3.5 million refugees by the end of the year,” High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres told reporters. “The funds we are appealing for are a matter of survival for suffering Syrians and they are existential for the neighbouring countries hosting refugees.”

Mr. Guterres underlined that more than half of the refugees fleeing Syria are children, and noted that many are starting to show signs of moderate to acute malnutrition.

The appeal includes $1 billion that would enable the World Food Programme (WFP) to scale up its distribution of food both inside and outside Syria. The agency currently distributes food to more than 800,000 people outside Syria and an additional 2.5 million inside the country. With additional resources, the agency said it hopes to reach a total of 7 million Syrians by late 2013.

The 13, who include prominent activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, were originally sentenced by military court in June 2011 to between two years and life in prison on charges including “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution”.

All of the men maintain their innocence.

Several of the defendants have spoken out in previous court hearings to describe their alleged torture and other ill-treatment in detention, including sexual assault, to coerce “confessions”.

“The Bahraini authorities must end this travesty of justice, quash all 13 opposition activists’ convictions and release them immediately and unconditionally. They are prisoners of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme Deputy Director.

“This trial serves as a test for the Bahraini authorities’ to show commitment to reform, which they promised to much fanfare after the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report was launched.”

Amnesty International also calls on the authorities to order an immediate and independent investigation into some of the defendants’ allegations of torture, make public the findings of such investigations and bring anyone found responsible for abuses to justice.

Due on 14 August, the verdict relates to appeal hearings after the Court of Cassation decided in April 2012 to refer the case to a civilian court. The High Criminal Court of Appeal started hearing the case on 22 May 2012.

Fourteen opposition activists were arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 after taking part in pro-reform protests in Manama. One of the men has since been released.

Many have alleged they were tortured during their first few days of detention when they were being interrogated by officers from the National Security Agency (NSA).

None of the 14 was allowed to see their lawyers during the NSA interrogations. Some saw their lawyers during questioning by the military prosecutor ahead of the trial.

Others were only allowed to see their lawyers during the first court hearing in May 2011, which was the first time any of the activists had seen their families since their arrest.

On 22 June 2011, Bahrain’s National Safety Court, a military court, announced its verdict and sentenced them to between two years and life in prison on charges including “setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution”.

An Amnesty International observer present at one of the appeal sessions, on 6 September 2011 concluded that no evidence was presented in court proving that the 14 had committed a crime and used or advocated violence.

On 28 September 2011 in a session that lasted only a few minutes, a military appeal court upheld all the opposition activists’ convictions.

The men’s appeal before a civilian court began in May this year, a decision of the Court of Cassation.

Amnesty International continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Bahrain, and urges the Bahraini authorities to carry out an independent investigation into all allegations of torture in detention and to bring those responsible to justice in fair trials.

The 14 opposition activists arrested are: Hassan Mshaima’, ‘Abdelwahab Hussain, ‘Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, Dr ‘Abdel-Jalil al-Singace, Mohammad Habib al-Miqdad, Abdel-Jalil al-Miqdad, Sa’eed Mirza al-Nuri, Mohammad Hassan Jawwad, Mohammad ‘Ali Ridha Isma’il, Abdullah al-Mahroos, ‘Abdul-Hadi ‘Abdullah Hassan al-Mukhodher, Ebrahim Sharif, Salah ‘Abdullah Hubail al-Khawaja.

Al-Hur Yousef al-Somaikh has since been released as he had served his sentence after the Court of Cassation reduced it to six months in prison.

Other opposition activists currently held in Bahrain include:

Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights is serving a three-month prison sentence over a libel case in relation to one of his tweets. After several postponements an appeals court is due to give its verdict on his case on 12 August.

Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the former president of the Bahrain Teacher’s Association (BTA), is serving a ten-year prison term for using his position “to call for a strike by teachers, halting the educational process and inciting hatred of the regime”, among other charges. His appeal is ongoing.

Nine health professionals are awaiting their final appeal verdict which is set for 1 October. In June 2012, an appeal court had upheld the convictions against the nine for their role in demonstrations in February and March 2011, but reduced their sentences from between five and 15 years’ imprisonment to between one month and five years in prison.

In 2011, 365,600 decisions on asylum applications were made in the EU27, of which 237,400 were first instance decisions and 128,200 final decisions on appeal. Decisions made at the first instance resulted in 59,500 persons being granted protection status, while a further 24,600 received protection status on appeal. In total, of the 84,100 persons who were granted protection status in 2011, 42,700 persons were granted refugee status, 29,400 subsidiary protection and 12,000 authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons. In addition, the EU27 Member States received 4,100 resettled refugees.

The rate of recognition of asylum applicants, i.e. the share of positive decisions in the total number of decisions, was 25% for first instance decisions, split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (21%) and humanitarian status (4%). For final decisions on appeal the recognition rate was 19%, again split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (17%) and humanitarian status (2%). It should be noted that, while both refugee and subsidiary protection status are defined by EU law, humanitarian status is granted on the basis of national legislation relating to international protection.

In 2011, the highest number of persons granted protection status was registered in the United Kingdom (14,400), followed by Germany (13,000), France (10,700), Sweden (10,600), the Netherlands (8,400) and Italy (7,500). These Member States accounted for more than three quarters of all those granted protection status in the EU27.

Afghans were the single largest group of persons granted protection status in the EU27. Of the 13,300 Afghans granted protection status in the EU27, 3,100 were recorded in Germany, 2,700 in Sweden, 1,800 in Austria, 1,400 in the Netherlands and 1,000 in the United Kingdom. Of the 9,000 Iraqis granted protection, 3,300 were registered in Germany, 1,400 in the Netherlands and 1,200 in Belgium, and of the 8,900 Somalis, 2,600 were in Sweden and 2,400 in the Netherlands.

“As Greece struggles to form a government, many in Europe are resigned to its exit from the eurozone, which they claim may be better than years of harsh austerity. There also seems to be a growing feeling that Europe is now strong enough to contain contagion from a Greek exit. In fact, we believe a Greek exit would be an economic and political catastrophe. It is far from certain that the current EFSF/ESM framework will be able to prevent contagion or deal with a bank run in Italy or Spain. A Greek exit could trigger a break-up of the eurozone, which would in turn lead to a deep recession and a new global financial crisis. A Greek exit would also destroy Europe’s soft power and irreversibly damage its standing in the world.

We therefore appeal to European policymakers to give Greece a way to return to a sustainable growth trajectory within the eurozone. It has become evident that the course of extreme austerity without compromises can only lead to economic failure. Policymakers must find a compromise in which Greece brings its public finances in order in exchange for more time to reduce its deficit and to pay back bilateral and multilateral loans. The interest rates Greece pays to its European partners should be cut. This could potentially be linked to progress on clearly defined reforms. This would give the Greek people hope that they will be able to return to economic growth while underlining their own responsibility to deliver on necessary reform. Both sides will have to make sacrifices, but we believe that the idea of a prosperous Europe is worth it.”