When food is short, Yemeni girls stay at home to work. With one of the worst gender disparities in the world, school feeding programmes strive to encourage rural families to enrol their young daughters in basic and secondary education. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Humanitarian actors are providing life-saving food and nutritional support to nearly half a million Yemenis affected by conflicts in northern and southern Yemen. However, limited funding has led to a reduction in assistance, negatively impacting the nutrition and food security status of families already facing protracted displacement. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
The number of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa to Yemen continues to rise despite growing instability in Yemen. Many try to continue on to other Gulf States but find themselves stuck at the border and have no means to feed or take care of themselves. Some are sick, hungry, dehydrated, living in open areas and exposed to the elements. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Yahi is one of over 93,000 refugees and migrants that have arrived in Yemen since the beginning of 2011. He is 17 years old and travelled by himself from his home in South Central Somalia to Bossaso where he boarded a smugglers boat to undertake the perilous journey to Yemen. Drought, conflict, political instability and human rights violations in the Horn of Africa have led to an increased influx in refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants arriving in Yemen in search of safety, protection and economic opportunities. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Basateen is a suburb of Aden with a population of about 50,000 people, over half of which are refugees. Here refugees have access to a number of basic services such as medical care and reproductive health service, a feeding programme for primary school students, legal assistance and representation, community support activities and limited financial assistance for refugees with special needs. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Conflict in Abyan has displaced over 100,000 persons across the South. Local organisations and youth councils opened up local schools throughout Aden to house those displaced by the conflict. Over 80 public schools are housing over 20,000 internally displaced persons. The academic year began in mid-September but nearly 30,000 children still are unable to begin classes. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Rates of chronic malnutrition in Yemen are among the highest in the world, with nearly two in three children suffering from stunting. Efforts are underway to address this growing crisis through routine screening for malnutrition, the provision of therapeutic feeding, and large-scale food security interventions. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
SEPTEMBER - Displacement in Yemen: Abbas, 11 years old, was injured by a landmine and now lives in one of the camps for the displaced in Hajjah. In one year alone, 21 people were killed by landmines in Sa’ada – around half of them children. Despite the prevalence of landmines and unexploded ordinance in the north of Yemen, children remain largely unaware of the threat. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Many families must resort to poor water sources for daily living. Chronic diarrhoea consequently affects over half of children among some displaced communities. Aid agencies are providing tens of thousands of displaced people in northern Yemen living in camps with clean, reliable water. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
The United Nations Security Council has listed Yemen as a country in which armed actors use children. The use and recruitment of children by armed forces and armed groups is ongoing across Yemen, in areas like Sa’ada, Abyan, and Sana’a. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Children are the most vulnerable and most affected by armed conflict. More than 60,000 Yemeni children have received psychosocial support through recreational sports and educational activities in Hajjah, Sa’ada, Amran, Aden, and Lahj. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Before the current crisis, less than two in three girls were enrolled in school in Yemen. The increasing violence and unrest during 2011 has worsened the situation, requiring far greater efforts to encourage girls to attend and remain in school, like in this rural village in Al-Hodeidah. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
A study conducted in Al-Hodeidah in September 2011 found a third of all children under 5 years of age suffer from acute malnutrition, twice the level of what is considered a critical emergency. Similarly high levels of malnutrition have been found in recent months in other areas of both the north and the south of the country. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Mohammed, a malnourished child receives care in one of over 650 health and feeding centres supported by aid agencies across Yemen. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Nearly a quarter of a million children across Yemen face difficulties attending school. More than 180 schools in different parts of the country have been occupied or attacked by armed forces and armed groups, or are occupied by displaced communities. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Due to the limited availability of clean water, Fatima must resort to collecting water for her family from contaminated sources. An absence of clean, safe water, and limited sanitation and hygiene facilities, continue to compound already high levels of malnutrition and disease throughout Yemen. Displaced families are particularly vulnerable. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Halima holds her younger brother, Ahmed, in Al-Mazrak camp for the displaced in Hajjah, northern Yemen. They, along with hundreds of thousands of others from Sa’ada remain displaced in northern Yemen after six rounds of fighting since 2004. Around 20,000 people are in formal camps, with the remainder living in informal settlements or within host communities. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Thousands of Yemeni, migrant, and refugee children are trafficked and abused throughout Yemen. Many are pressed into begging, forced to work, smuggled across borders, or recruited by armed forces. This safe shelter in Aden offers temporary accommodation for children, providing medical and psychosocial care, and reintegration assistance for children rescued from exploitative and abusive conditions. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Young girls displaced by conflict take part in activities at a Child-Friendly Space. Activities include games designed to help restore a sense of normality and to help children process emotional and physical trauma. Across Yemen, more than half of all displaced people are children. They suffer disproportionately from disease, malnutrition, compromised education, and protection issues. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
OCTOBER - Yemen Crisis: OCHA warned that the growing humanitarian crisis had alarming consequences for the education and well-being of children. In October, an estimated 80 schools within conflict zones were inaccessible and 36 of them were occupied by armed groups. CREDIT: OCHA
Hamzah, who has been displaced from his home in Sa’ada, learns through games of the dangers of unexploded devices and how to stay safe. Remnants of war, such as landmines and unexploded ordinance, pose a great risk long after the fighting has ended – particularly to children. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Of the over 100,000 displaced persons due to the conflict in Abyan, most have found shelter within the host communities in the southern governorates. Ayadah and her sister Nawal are among those displaced and remain vulnerable and in need of ongoing humanitarian assistance. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Home to nearly 17,000 predominately Somali refugees, Kharaz camp provides primary education to more than 3,700 children. Students like Mariam receive daily hot cooked meals to encourage refugee children to attend kindergarten and primary school. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Hussein is one of over 5,000 urban refugee children attending school in Aden, alongside Yemeni students. The education is possible through the support of humanitarian agencies that subsidise teacher salaries, provide learning materials and school feeding programmes. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Asma, 10, pulls water from a well in Hais, an extremely poor area where the population lives on the equivalent of a dollar day. Many people do not have access to health facilities or education. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Credit: Oxfam, Abbie Trayler-Smith
Rania fled the war in Sa’ada with her family, and now struggles to access basic services like water, transportation, cooking gas and electricity. During 2011, fuel prices have increased more than 5 times what they had been at the beginning of the year, placing a further strain on the family’s ability to fend for itself. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Salma bends to wash the dust from her face. In her village, where they rely on rain for water, she shares the basin with livestock. Yemen is rapidly running out of water, yet has the lowest per capita water consumption in the world with a third of the population unable to access adequate and clean water. Already villages are being abandoned in the highland basins as water sources are at crisis levels. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Standing outside her makeshift home in Hais, Njwed, mother of four, awaits the return of her husband. He left home to find employment as a fisherman, abandoning farming like many others from the village. Stagnating agricultural production has led to hunger and unemployment across much of rural Yemen. Njwed has had to resort to feeding her children bread and water as there is little else left. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
More than one in three Yemenis does not know where their next meal will come from. In 2011 and 2012, almost 1.8 million hungry Yemenis require assistance to ensure that families have sufficient access to adequate food during the May to October ‘hunger season’. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
Farm labourers in Hais divvy up their June harvest among the families in the village. Due to the 2011 economic crisis and increasing water scarcity they worry that next years yield will be even worse with less food for everyone. Nearly three quarters of Yemenis live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, and are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Photo courtesy of the Yemen Humanitarian Team.
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