Yemen

Working environment

The already fragile situation in Yemen has deteriorated dramatically since March 2015 and continued to intensify during 2016, with some 21.1 million people or 81 per cent of the population of Yemen in need of humanitarian assistance. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) system-wide level-3 emergency response, declared in July 2015, remains in place. Over a year into the current conflict, the precarious humanitarian situation is compounded by a deteriorating national economy and the disruption of already limited basic services.  The humanitarian response in Yemen is further constrained by limitations to movement and access to people in need of assistance. Despite conditions in Yemen not being conducive for asylum owing to the on-going war, Yemen continues to be a destination country for new arrivals from Somalia and a transit country for many asylum-seekers and migrants. UNHCR benefits from a strong collaboration with partners, refugee community leaders and with the General Bureau of Refugee Affairs (BRA) at national and local level.  

Key Priorities

In 2017, UNHCR in Yemen will: 
•    Ensure critical protection interventions and service delivery for internally displaced people through initiatives such as protection monitoring and multi-sectoral assessments, psychosocial counselling, legal assistance and multipurpose cash grants;
•    Continue to work together with the Yemeni authorities to improve the accuracy and credibility of data on refugees and asylum-seekers and their specific needs;
•    Work together with key partners, such as IOM, to enhance the capacity and impact of a regional awareness-raising initiative on the risks of irregular migration; 
•    Support voluntary return for people for whom return and reintegration is appropriate;
•    Maintain its coordination and leadership role in the Protection, Camp Coordination and Camp Management and Shelter/NFI clusters; and co-lead with IOM the Task Force on Population Movement.