Bringing life-saving supplies into Yemen
In the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, UNOPS is helping to ensure essential goods continue to flow into Yemen to reach people in need.
The current conflict in Yemen has resulted in a widespread and devastating humanitarian crisis. It has left more than 80 per cent of the population in dire need of humanitarian assistance. According to estimates of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by early 2019, 24 million people were in need in the country, and over 10 million people faced severe food insecurity.
As part of its efforts to facilitate access to essential commodities, UNOPS is working with partners in Yemen to meet basic needs. To facilitate the inflow of commercial goods, UNOPS, in partnership with OCHA established the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) for Yemen in December 2015, on behalf of the government of Yemen, the United Nations and its Member States. UNVIM was created to oversee the monitoring and inspection services of commercial and bilateral assistance cargo destined for Yemeni Red Sea ports, which are not under the control of the government of Yemen.
Since its establishment, there have been a number of challenges often found in fast-changing, active, conflict situations. In response, UNOPS has worked together with the main stakeholders to establish solutions to deliver on the mandate of the mechanism in the most efficient way.
Setting up its operations in Djibouti, UNVIM developed a range of procedures to avoid significant delays and blockages in delivering goods to people in Yemen.
We are extremely pleased to have had the opportunity to develop a solution to an issue that was increasing the current challenges that Yemen and its people are dealing with. In operationalizing UNVIM, UNOPS, together with our partners, [has been] able to contribute to efforts to provide access to essential items and goods to the people of Yemen.” Farouk Hirzalla – UNOPS Project Manager for UNVIM
In addition to ensuring sufficient infrastructure and procedures to operate the mechanism, UNOPS directly engaged with stakeholders, including in the shipping lines, to answer their queries and encourage them to return to Yemen’s Red Sea ports. This work has enabled UNVIM to become a source of reliable commercial data on imports to areas of Yemen not under the control of the government. “The statistics and analyses are shared with international organizations, NGOs, and other relevant stakeholders working in Yemen,” said Farouk. The project team also worked closely with the government of Yemen, hosting an official of the Ministry of Transport, who supported in expediting clearances for the commercial cargo shipments.
Between 5 May 2016 and 31 December 2018, 875 commercial vessels were cleared, out of which 271 vessel inspections were undertaken in order to confirm compliance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. This has facilitated the delivery of over 10 million tonnes of food, fuel and supplies to the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Saleef. Following an agreement at peace talks between the Yemeni parties in Sweden that was reached in December 2018, UNVIM will now also undertake an enhanced monitoring and inspection role. “We are ready to provide whatever support is envisaged necessary to implement the agreement and support efforts to bring peace to Yemen,” said Farouk.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/bringing-life-saving-supplies-yemen