Letter to the Hon. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State United States Department of State - Shaheen Joins Bipartisan Letter to Stem UN Funding Shortfalls for Yemen Humanitarian Relief

Letter

Dear Secretary Blinken,

Your appearance at this year's UN donor conference for Yemen was a strong signal of American leadership to bring attention to the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and we welcome the announcement of an additional $191 million in U.S. assistance to alleviate the suffering in Yemen. Unfortunately, international donors have fallen more than $2.5 billion short of what humanitarian partners in Yemen require this year. We urge you to support another donors conference that fills that funding shortfall, as doing so could mean the difference between life and death for millions of Yemenis.

Six years of war has left 20 million Yemenis -- two-thirds of the population -- in need of humanitarian aid. This year, 16 million people will face hunger and 400,000 children could starve to death. The conditions in Yemen have not been this dire since 2018, when the UN was warning that half of the country was at risk of famine. With a massive infusion of emergency aid and diplomatic pressure that prevented an assault on Hodeidah, that famine was averted and millions of lives were saved.

Unfortunately, the looming threat of famine has re-emerged. Today, nearly 50,000 people in Yemen are living in famine-like conditions with 5 million more just a step away. Unlike in 2018, the international community has so far mostly failed to rise to the challenge and provide the robust funding needed to stave off this catastrophe.

Since 2019, the amount of money donors are sending to relief agencies working in Yemen has been falling, even as the situation has deteriorated. In 2019, the UN's humanitarian appeal of $4.2 billion was 87 percent funded. In 2020, the UN's $3.4 billion appeal was 50 percent funded. Today, just 34 percent of this year's $3.85 billion appeal for Yemen has been fulfilled.

The countries leading the fundraising effort for Yemen -- Switzerland and Sweden -- have called for another fundraising conference to fill this $2.5 billion shortfall. We urge you to work with other major donors to rally around that meeting, mobilizing the resources needed to stave off famine and save lives. More than 20 million Yemenis depend on humanitarian assistance to survive, and we cannot let them down.

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