EU humanitarian aid to Yemen

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Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been allocated humanitarian aid of €2.53 million by the European Commission. This aid will help the most vulnerable sections of the Yemeni population, in particular people living in shanty towns around cities, homeless children, and refugees from the Horn of Africa. The aid will be delivered by ECHO, the Commission's Humanitarian Office, and the projects themselves will be implemented by specialised UN agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations.

According to Louis Michel, the European Commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid and development, "the humanitarian needs in Yemen are largely forgotten by the international media and the donor community. Because the Yemeni state has limited capacity to act, despite its development efforts, it is up to the European Commission to help the poorest and most vulnerable people to live in decent conditions and in dignity."

Thanks to the aid of the Commission, almost 60 000 inhabitants of rural, particularly remote regions of Yemen will gain access to drinking water. In the shanty towns around the capital Sanaa and the town of Taez, where the most marginalised communities live in conditions of extreme poverty, the Commission will finance the building of drinking water systems and primary health centres that will serve more than 24 000 people. Accommodation and socio-educational support services will be offered to some 650 children living and sleeping in the streets of Sanaa who have to fend for themselves and are vulnerable to all kinds of abuse. The funds allocated will also be used to increase the reception capacity of a camp on the southern coast to cope with the growing numbers of refugees arriving from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Water distribution and sanitation facilities will be built.

Yemen is one of the world's 30 least-developed countries. According to the United Nations, more than 45% of the 19 million Yemenis live under the poverty line, getting by with less than two dollars (€1.54) per person per day. Almost a third of Yemen's population, and up to two-thirds of the rural population, do not have access to drinking water. The scope and quality of public health services is thereby reduced. Consequently, more than one child in10 dies before the age of five.

For more information:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/echo/index_en.htm

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