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	Yemen: End the conflict and the humanitarian devastation that has ravaged the civilian population by 59 Nongovernmental Organizations, agencies   Mar. 2021   Millions in Yemen desperately need more aid to survive.   UN Secretary-General António Guterres says the only path to peace is through an immediate, nationwide ceasefire and a set of confidence-building measures, followed by an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under United Nations auspices, and supported by the international community. There is no other solution”, Mr. Guterres spelled out.   “The United Nations will continue to stand in solidarity with the starving people of Yemen”.     With the spectre of starvation looming over 16 million people, the UN chief warned, “famine is bearing down on Yemen”, adding that it’s “impossible to overstate the severity of the suffering”.   He painted a grim picture of more than 20 million Yemenis in desperate need of assistance and protection – especially women and children.   Around two-thirds are suffering food shortages, healthcare or other lifesaving support, while some four million have been forced from their homes, with hundreds of thousands of others under threat.   “The risk of large-scale famine has never been more acute”, spelled out the UN chief. “The race is on, if we want to prevent hunger and starvation from taking millions of lives”.   The Secretary-General said that last year, the conflict killed or injured more than 2,000 civilians, devastated the economy and crushed public services.   And noting that barely half of Yemen’s health facilities are fully functional, he pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as “one more deadly threat in a country facing such severe health challenges”.   Against the backdrop that children are starving and nearly half of those under age five are facing acute malnutrition – suffering wasting, depression and exhaustion – Mr. Guterres called childhood in Yemen “a special kind of hell”.   He warned that 400,000 children face severe acute malnutrition and could die without urgent treatment and noted starving children are even more vulnerable to preventable diseases like cholera, diphtheria and measles.   Sick and injured children are turned away by overwhelmed health facilities that lack the drugs or equipment to treat them.   “Every ten minutes, a child dies a needless death from diseases”, he lamented. “And every day, Yemeni children are killed or maimed in the conflict”.And long after the guns fall silent, they will continue to pay a high price with many never fulfilling their physical and mental potential. “This war is swallowing up a whole generation of Yemenis”, he said. “It has to stop”.   Stressing that “there is no military solution”, the UN chief upheld that all actions must be driven by a peaceful resolution to the conflict. He detailed that an immediate, nationwide ceasefire and a set of confidence-building measures, followed by an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under UN auspices, supported by the international community was “the only path to peace”.   “The people of Yemen have articulated what they want: lifesaving support from the world; peaceful political participation; accountable governance; equal citizenship and economic justice”, he said.   Flagging that this was the fifth high-level humanitarian pledging event for Yemen, he maintained “the bitter truth” that there would be a sixth one next year, “unless the war ends”.   “We must create and seize every opportunity to save lives, stave off a mass famine, and forge a path to peace”, said the Secretary-General.   Situation never worse   Last year’s humanitarian funding fell to half of what was needed and half of what was received the year before. The country’s currency has collapsed and overseas remittances dried up with the pandemic, he said, and humanitarian organizations have reduced or closed their programmes, creating a humanitarian situation that “has never been worse”.   “The impact has been brutal”, he stated, adding that any reduction in aid is “a death sentence for entire families”.   UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said that more money for Yemen’s aid operation was “the fastest, most efficient way to prevent a famine” and would also “help create the conditions for lasting peace”.   UN Resident Coordinator David Gressly said that if the world chooses not to help today “or not help enough”, the misery will continue to grow.   “Time is not on our side” to avoid a likely unprecedented famine he said, urging everyone to “take the current opportunity and run with it”.   Due to severe funding shortages and possible reproductive health facility closures – compounded by rising risks posed by COVID-19 and looming famine – the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) emphasized that more than 100,000 could die from pregnancy and childbirth complications.    “If lifesaving reproductive health and protection services stop, it will be catastrophic for women and girls in Yemen, placing them at even greater risk”, said Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director. “Funding is urgently needed to save lives and to keep facilities open to protect the health, safety and dignity of women and adolescent girls”.   World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley highlighted that a lack of funding will have a catastrophic impact on Yemen’s children, and called on partners to step up and help prevent this silent emergency.   The head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, said that hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children could die without urgent treatment, pushing for “urgent action to reverse this catastrophe”.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086042 http://www.savethechildren.net/news/pledging-conference-yemenis-let-down-once-again http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/01/a-massive-famine-is-creeping-into-yemen-we-need-to-stop-it-devouring-a-generation http://www.dw.com/en/yemen-un-donor-conference-raises-a-disappointing-17-billion/a-56738853 http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-famine-around-corner-says-world-food-programme   http://www.wfp.org/news/acute-malnutrition-threatens-half-children-under-five-yemen-2021-un http://www.wfp.org/emergencies http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1153006/?iso3=YEM http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/ http://unocha.exposure.co/eleven-facts-about-the-yemen-crisis http://unocha.exposure.co/ http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-mark-36   May 2020   Yemen aid lifeline near breaking point: UN food agency   Humanitarian aid projects to war-torn Yemen are reaching breaking point, and some $870 million is urgently needed to continue giving life-saving assistance to millions of vulnerable people for the next six months, the World Food Programme (WFP), warned on Tuesday. The appeal for a fresh cash injection comes after more than five years of fighting in the Arabian peninsula country.   Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world before violence escalated in March 2015, and today millions of people lack access to sufficient food, fuel and medicine, almost all of which is imported. According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, around 80 per cent of the Yemeni population need humanitarian assistance.   At a press conference, Elisabeth Byrs, WFP senior spokesperson, noted the agency's particular concern for over 20 million Yemenis who are food insecure, of which nearly 10 million are acutely food insecure, adding that WFP expects coronavirus to push many more children in Yemen into acute malnutrition. Over two million children in Yemen are already acutely malnourished, and it's a figure that WFP fears will increase.   As of Monday evening, the World Health Organization (WHO) had reported 50 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Yemen, but there are widespread concerns that the situation is much worse. It is also widely feared that, with around half of the country's health facilities shut, Yemen lacks the means to prevent this latest threat to an already weakened population that faces the ever-present threat of cholera and ongoing conflict that has displaced more than four million people.   UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, echoed concerns that the aid situation in Yemen threatens to spin out of control, describing it as the world's worst humanitarian crisis with unparalleled protection concerns.   Among the UNHCR projects most at risk are a cash-assistance programmes for internally displaced and impoverished host communities. Under the scheme, each eligible family receives around $170 in instalments over six months to help pay for rent, buy food, clothes, along with medicine and other urgent concerns. Up to one million people are at risk, if the projects stop unless funding is found.   A UN pledging conference for Yemen is due to be held next Tuesday.   http://unocha.exposure.co/millions-of-lives-must-be-saved-in-yemen http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-yemen-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-0 http://www.savethechildren.org.au/media/media-releases/pledging-conference-fails-to-deliver http://bit.ly/2Aey7zT http://www.msf.org/covid-19 http://www.unocha.org/story/yemen-un-extremely-concerned-rapid-spread-covid-19 http://reliefweb.int/country/yem http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-response-plan-extension-june-december-2020-enar   Apr. 2020   Yemen: End the conflict and the humanitarian devastation that has ravaged the civilian population - 59 Nongovernmental Organizations   Over five years of brutal war in Yemen have left millions of Yemenis weakened by malnutrition and disease, and decimated Yemen's health system.   The imminent threat of COVID-19 will exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation: 80 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, the majority of whom are women and children; two-thirds of the country lacks adequate access to clean water and sanitation; millions are living on the brink of starvation; nearly 20 million people lack access to adequate healthcare; and cholera, dengue, and other preventable diseases are already rife.   These factors create an environment dangerously conducive to the severe and rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, threatening countless civilian lives.   Especially in light of this extraordinary threat, we, the undersigned NGOs, cautiously welcome the announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of a temporary cessation of hostilities in Yemen. We urge all parties to the conflict in Yemen to immediately halt fighting, to implement a ceasefire on the ground without delay, to release all detainees and those forcibly disappeared, and to work with the UN Special Envoy to urgently restart comprehensive and inclusive political negotiations to end the conflict.   A ceasefire alone cannot stop the spread of COVID-19 in Yemen. All parties must immediately lift restrictions and end interference with vital humanitarian operations; ensure immediate access to populations in need; facilitate the movement of humanitarian workers and goods and of commercial imports; and end blockades and other actions and policies that prevent or restrict essential commercial imports into Yemen, to maintain the humanitarian response for the millions of Yemenis who need aid to survive, and to support Yemenis economic livelihood.   Yemeni civil society must also be supported to continue their essential role in responding to the crisis. Simultaneously, the international community must ramp up funding for the full range of humanitarian programming in Yemen.   Amid this global pandemic, any suspension of life-saving assistance for Yemen, or politicization of humanitarian access and funding, will leave Yemen's already vulnerable civilian population at heightened risk.   A cessation of hostilities in Yemen can only be a first step. Yemenis need a durable ceasefire, a comprehensive and inclusive political settlement to the current conflict, unencumbered access to humanitarian aid and commercial imports, and accountability for the violations all sides have committed during this war.   Yemen cannot wait any longer for an end to the conflict and humanitarian devastation that has ravaged the civilian population for over five years.   http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-statement-59-nongovernmental-organizations-announcement-temporary-ceasefire-yemen http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2020/4/5ea7ecd84/unhcr-shortfall-threatens-critical-aid-nearly-million-displaced-yemenis.html http://www.unhcr.org/emergencies.html Visit the related web page
	Welfare works: redistribution is the way to create less violent, less unequal societies by Patricia Justino United Nations University: UNU-WIDER   In his presidential address to the Royal Economic Society in 1996, the late Professor Anthony Atkinson famously called for discussion of inequality and income distribution to be brought 'in from the cold'. Since then there have been many examples of inequality worldwide: the pan-banging cacerolazos demonstrators of Argentina’s financial crisis in 2001-2002, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, Spain’s 'los indignados', the 'gilets jaunes' protests and strikes in France, and many others besides.   It was almost 20 years before the subject became a matter of mainstream debate, perhaps signified by the publication and success of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in 2014. Yet the statistics that show rising inequality are well-known and have been staring us in the face for decades. In the US, the top 1% of the population accounts for 20% of total national income and more than 30% of wealth. Worldwide, around 9% of the population receives 50% of global income, while the bottom half the world’s population receive a mere 7%.   This inequality has been increasing since the 1980s when a series of social, economic, and political factors – including a shift of employment from factories and manufacturing into services and more differentiated jobs, the weakening of trade unions, more wage competition facilitated by globalisation, and fiscal pressures on welfare systems – combined to sustain rises in inequality not seen since the 1920s.   It is now known that inequality lowers economic growth by reducing middle-class demand and increasing the costs of redistribution. It causes poverty traps by reducing social mobility, and creates social tensions.   The 'trickle-down economics' ideology that dominated the 1980s and 1990s (and which has now reappeared in US president Donald Trump’s tax plan) has been well and truly debunked: economic growth does not automatically produce better lives for everyone.   There is widespread agreement among experts that high inequality destabilises societies. Increasing inequality can undermine democracy, trust between social groups and institutions, and even result in substantial changes to the political order.   Today, increases in inequality have been accompanied by unprecedented growth of far-right politics, growing protest movements, and the election of governments with nationalistic overtones.   There are steps that could be taken to curtail rising inequality, but not a great deal is being done.   In research drawn from 18 countries across Latin America between 2010 and 2014, we found that those taking part in protests were more likely to be strongly in favour of redistribution, and were motivated by the perceived failure of public services, institutions, corruption and lower standards of living.   But some countries – the US, for example – are tolerant of inequality, as can be seen for example in how the US has less progressive tax system, less public spending to benefit the poorer off, and limited employment rights in comparison to European countries.   When inequality reaches certain thresholds, it may lead to social conflict and sometimes violence. Whether or not it gets to this stage depends on whether action is taken to reduce inequality. One solution to avoid potential instability is to redistribute wealth through welfare programmes.   About half the reduction in violent conflict experienced in Latin America since the 1990s can be attributed to increases in government welfare spending, largely in the form of cash transfer programmes.   Welfare transfers are also an effective (and cheaper) means to mitigating riots than the police – as can be seen looking at data from India between 1960-2011 where states with higher levels of welfare spending experienced less rioting.   The relationship between welfare programmes and socio-political tensions has deep historical roots. Otto von Bismarck initiated the world’s first social insurance programme when he was chancellor of Germany in the late 19th century as a response to the threat of social instability by dissatisfied workers’ unions.   The idea of using welfare transfers to curtail potential instability spread rapidly across Europe during the early 20th century, becoming a central part of a social contract between states and citizens.   But welfare spending has been drastically reduced across the world since the 1980s, and it may not be surprising that inequality and social tensions have risen at the same time.   Welfare policies, such as cash transfers to the poor, unemployment benefits, child subsidies and universal health care – funded by progressive taxation – can break cycles of poverty and social discontent by addressing economic vulnerabilities and reinforcing resilience among those least well-off.   More fundamentally, today, as in Europe at the turn of the 20th century, welfare programmes can sustain peace and stability because they remain a central part of the social contract between states and citizens.   When the social contract is seen to be broken, those that lose out feel disenfranchised and at the margin of societies while a few continue to amass great fortunes at the cost of the many. But unchecked rises in inequality come at a high societal cost, from protests and strikes, to the rise of nationalism and autocracy. It may well be high time to bring redistribution in from the cold.   http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/welfare-works-redistribution-way-create-less-violent-less-unequal-societies http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/nobel-peace-prize-acknowledges-link-between-preventing-hunger-and-promoting-peace Visit the related web page
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