LCRDYE

Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 8 March 2019

Key figures:

24M people in need

3.34 M displaced in the last three years

81% of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) displaced for more than one year

1M IDP returnees 1.2M IDPs given inkind or cash assistance in 2018

274,162 refugees and asylum-seekers

Funding

USD 198.6 M required for 2019 operations

IDP Response

As IDP families flee the north, UNHCR continues to provide life-saving support in Sa’ada governorate, where the frontline runs across the northern and western borders with Saudi Arabia and through the eastern district of Kitaf wa Al Boqe’e. According to the 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Needs Overview, 90 per cent (840,000 individuals) of the governorate’s population is in acute need of assistance, the highest in the country. UNHCR will prioritize core relief item (CRI) distribution for the 1,500 displaced (IDP) families who have fled east towards the southern district of Haydan from the western borders in the last six months. Shelter cluster partners, DRC and ASADSC, have already distributed 500 emergency shelter kits (ESKs). On 28 February, 250 IDP families in the central district of Sa’ada received ESKs through UNHCR’s partner YDF.

UNHCR partner JAAHD, in coordination with the shelter sub-national cluster, has been conducting needs assessments in Hajjah governorate for the recently displaced 1,429 IDP families from the flashpoint district of Kushar. Most of these families, who had fled westwards to Khayran Al Muharraq district, will receive CRIs and ESKs in March through IOM. Since January, 4,251 IDP families in need have been identified in Kushar and six nearby districts. In response, the regional coordination team members decided to mobilize the pre-positioned stock of 1,500 CRIs and 500 ESKs, currently in the Hudaydah warehouse.

Individuals continue to flee from the southern frontlines of Taizz, Al Hudaydah and Ibb governorate. Under UNHCR’s coordination, 1,600 families (recently displaced from Al Hudaydah to the central governorates of Ibb, Al Dhihar, Al Mashannah and to At Ta’iziyah district of Taizz governorate) will receive CRIs. Services such as education, nutrition, food distribution, access to health and protection will also be made available under the appropriate cluster response.

In the governorates of central Yemen, 1,000 IDP families in Rada’ district in Al Bayda governorate received CRIs over the last week. Most of the families fled Al Hudaydah last June and now live in rented accommodation or are hosted by relatives. Until now, UNHCR had supported the district through rental subsidies, protection assessments, and cash support for winterization. This is the first time CRI distributions have reached this area, and more IDP families in need of support are being identified.

Some 23,000 families in Hajjah governorate in Abs district are currently living in temporary shelters due to the recent escalation of violence. Assessments for newly displaced IDPs are ongoing. Some 388 persons have received psychosocial, legal or social counselling through UNHCR’s partner ADRA. Three families received one-off emergency cash assistance. UNHCR partner HGF conducted 1,081 protection assessments in the eight central districts of Al Hudaydah governorate. Legal assistance, psychosocial counselling, and referrals to medical clinics were provided to 55 IDPs. Nine families received one-off emergency cash assistance.

Refugee Response

Five Somali refugees (including one unaccompanied girl) departed to Norway through Aden airport on 26 February. On 5 March, ten Ethiopian refugees departed to Sweden. Both groups were part of the 2018 regular submission under the resettlement programme. The remaining 29 refugees of the 2018 emergency quota are scheduled to depart in March.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-8-march-2019

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