Dropping 2.6 million of the lists of beneficiaries of relief aid in the liberated areas with the complicity of government agencies

English - Wednesday 25 May 2022 الساعة 04:32 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:

 A Yemeni relief official accused the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs of dropping 2.6 million residents of government-controlled areas from the lists of those eligible for relief assistance, including 1.5 million displaced people, and diverting this aid to areas under the control of the Houthi militia.

According to Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, the accusations of the relief official did not stop at the United Nations office, but rather went beyond them to parties in the legitimate government whom he did not name complicity in this step, calling on senior officials to intervene and oblige the United Nations to adopt the lists and statistics submitted by the Executive Unit for the Management of IDPs Camps that he heads as the official authority concerned with this matter.

The newspaper quoted Najeeb Al-Saadi, head of the Executive Unit for the Administration of IDPs Camps, which is affiliated with the Yemeni Cabinet, as saying that the statistics that the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) relied on in drawing up the lists of internally displaced persons were “incorrect and lacking in methodology,” and said that they were based “on  Estimates, not statistics.

He explained that the officials in the Executive Unit had a long discussion with OCHA and the International Organization for Migration, as the latter is the body entrusted with the UN agencies to track displacement, and it became clear that they do not have any surveys, and that after OCHA and International Migration were briefed on  The methodology followed by the Executive Unit for the Management of IDPs Camps in conducting surveys and collecting data, it was agreed to adopt these statistics, but then the Executive Unit was surprised by the approval of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in the legitimate government on the statistics submitted by “OCHA” despite the obvious errors in them.

According to the Yemeni official, this step will deprive nearly two million and six hundred thousand residents and displaced people in government-controlled areas of aid, including one million and six hundred thousand displaced people, most of whom are in Ma'rib Governorate.

Al-Saadi indicated that the matter will not be limited to that, but it will have effects in other aspects, indicating that this number that was reduced in areas under government control was added to Houthi-controlled areas, without reliance on a correct basis.

For his part, Zaid Al-Alaya, Information and Communication Officer at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, defended the procedures followed by the United Nations.

The Saudi newspaper quoted Al-Alaya as confirming that they are working with the local authorities in Marib, the Executive Unit for the Displaced, and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to reach a better understanding and common agreement about the number of displaced people currently living in Marib Governorate, and a humanitarian response plan for Yemen for 2022 has been submitted, including the numbers of the needy and the most needy, and its discussion with the authorities in Aden and Sana'a on 14 March.