Statement on Yemen by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee 3 December 2018
We have met in Geneva today, for our regular twice-yearly discussion of the major humanitarian challenges facing the world. Yemen was first and foremost in our talks. We are alarmed at the dramatic deterioration in the situation over recent months. Millions of lives are now at serious risk.
We call for a sustained cessation of hostilities, especially for the key aid infrastructure around the port of Hudaydah. We call upon all parties to allow the humanitarian agencies better, unimpeded access to people in need. We call for further urgent action to boost the economy. We seek international support in response to our appeals for Yemen to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in 2019. And most importantly we urge all parties to go to Sweden for the talks being convened by the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, and to engage seriously to agree actions to ease the situation.
Signatories
- Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP
- Anoop Sukumaran, Chair, Board of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
- António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino, Director-General, IOM
- Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Internally Displaced People
- David Beasley, Executive Director, WFP
- Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR
- Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
- Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
- José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, FAO
- Kate Halff, Executive Secretary, Steering Committee of Humanitarian Response (SCHR)
- Mahmoud Mohieldin, Senior Vice President, World Bank Group
- Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT
- Mark Goldring, Chief Executive Officer, Oxfam GB
- Mark Lowcock, Emergency Relief Coordinator
- Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR
- Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA
- Sam Worthington, President and CEO, InterAction
- Sean Callahan, President and CEO, Catholic Relief Services
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO
- Ursula Mueller, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, OCHA
