More money is urgently needed to ease the humanitarian suffering in Yemen, but aid alone is no substitute for reviving efforts to bring about peace, international charity Oxfam said Monday (April 24th), ahead of a high-level pledging event set to open Tuesday in Geneva.
The UN hopes to raise $2.1 billion to deliver humanitarian assistance to Yemen, but the appeal, intended to provide vital help to 12 million people, is only 14% funded as of April 18th.
According to the UN, Yemen has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with nearly seven million people facing starvation.
While aid is needed to save lives now, many more people will die unless major powers stop fueling the conflict and put pressure on all sides to pursue peace, Oxfam said.
"Many areas of Yemen are on the brink of famine, and the cause of such extreme starvation is political," said Oxfam's country director in Yemen Sajjad Mohamed Sajid.
Yemen was experiencing a humanitarian crisis even before this latest escalation in the conflict two years ago, but successive appeals for Yemen have been repeatedly underfunded.
Oxfam also is calling on donors and international agencies to return to the country and to increase their efforts.
