This is a considerable amount, especially since the vast majority of the assistance, at least from the WFP, arrives in the form of unconditional resource transfers.10 In a country with a GDP per capita of around $700 and few sources of revenue, it should not be underestimated how significant this inflow of over $1 billion of assistance into Houthi territory is to both the local economy and the Hou. [...] Left: A Tweet highlighting the head of the Bonyan Foundation Mohammed al-Madani and his strong familial ties to the Houthi regime: [Translation from Arabic to English] “Major General Abdul-Hakim Hashem Al-Khaiwani, Head of the Security and Intelligence Service, sent a message of condolences and consolation to the Commander of the Fifth Military Region, Major General Yousef Al-Madani, the Chairman. [...] Nevertheless, in September 2022, ETC Yemen announced that it “completed setting up the ICT infrastructure in the office of the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (SCMCHA) in Sana’a.” 42 ETC Yemen appears to be providing (free of charge) the very same products and services to SCMCHA that the regime is denying their humanitarian colleagues the right to use fr. [...] The IP and any potential affiliations to the Houthi regime could determine several key aspects of the project’s implementation: Is the regime profiting from this? Is the regime using this program as a tool to bestow favor or buy loyalty? Will this project cause the aid organization to become identified with the regime? Conclusion and Recommendations In 2019, a statement by the UN explained “our gr. [...] Enabling the Houthis to direct how aid money is used and then publicly claim credit for the projects blurs the boundary necessary for maintaining the integrity of the organizations and the projects they implement.
- Pages
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- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary 2
- Executive Summary 3
- Assistance Overview The Yemeni Context 3
- Background 3
- Houthi Interference in Humanitarian Aid 3
- Data Collection Aid Distribution and Minimal Transparency 3
- Conclusion and Recommendations 3
- Assistance Overview The Yemeni Context 4
- Background 4
- In 2022 the WFP estimated that its general food assistance GFA program was helping upwards of 13.2 million people. 4
- From this one could extrapolate that about three-quarters of those supported by the GFA budget are likely located in Houthi-controlled areas. 4
- Houthi Interference in Humanitarian Aid 5
- In other instances even the most brazen of SCMCHAs diversion schemes appear to succeed for some time until they are exposed. For example in 2020 the Associated Press AP reported 6
- The following section will consider the framework for understanding how such a well-resourced humanitarian effort failed to meet the needs of impoverished Yemenis. 13
- Data Collection Aid Distribution and Minimal Transparency 13
- Interference in the list of approved beneficiaries aside much diversion can and does occur during the storage 14
- In a more permissive environment the implementation of UNINGO-funded aid programs would be overseen 15
- The organizations Supply Annual Report for 2022 provides budgetary numbers in very generic terms 17
- The Annex for Supply Annual Report then provides specific details on which contractors were used and 17
- The UNICEF contract database provides similar information about how much money was spent for 17
- The Country Office Annual Report provides country background information and very general numbers 17
- Conclusion and Recommendations 18
- First humanitarian organizations should be more transparent about their challenges. It is true that 18
- Second in future instances of egregious aid diversion to the Houthis in which either large amounts are 18
- Third humanitarian organizations operating in Yemen should be pressed to maintain policies that 18
- If the longstanding humanitarian principle of neutrality is enforced more rigorously it will be more evident which if any of the organizations have been compromised by the regime. 19
- Fourth the U.S. and its allies ought to consider developing a counter-strategy for aid diversion. If 19
- Fifth aid organizations operating in Houthi-controlled areas should increase their efforts in sharing 19
- Sixth a consortium of major donors to aid projects in Yemen could work together to create an 19
- Finally major international donors such as the United States the European Union or the United 19
- FightExtremism 20
- CounterExtremismProject 20
- CounterExtremismProjectCEP 20