Highlights
• In April, a nationwide cessation of hostilities began and a new round of peace talks started with high hopes for further steps towards the long-waited peace in Yemen. UNICEF and partners welcome the agreement and expanded the humanitarian response in previously active conflict areas namely; Taiz, Sa’ada, Al Jawf, Marib and Al Bayda including education assessment in Taiz and Sa’ada.
• Between 10 and 12 April, UNICEF supported a Nation-wide polio vaccination campaign. At least 4.6 million children under 5 years were vaccinated against polio and over 3.9 million children were given Vitamin A.
• UNICEF provided the 6 th monthly cycle of humanitarian cash transfers for over 4,700 vulnerable families in Amanat Al Asimah. Preparation are underway to increase the number oftarget householdsin Taiz governorate in the coming months.
• UNICEF mobile teams were deployed and provided emergency health and nutrition services to 107 IDPs families in Amran as an immediate response to the flash floods affecting nearly 30,000 people in seven governorates.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
In April 2016, the international humanitarian community welcomed the long-waited cessation of hostilities agreed by the parties of the conflict in Yemen and the continuation of the peace talks.
Although various official and unofficialsources confirmed a significant reduction in violence since the beginning of the truce, hostilities were reported in several parts of the country causing the delay ofthe peace talks until 21 April, which were set to open in Kuwait on 18 April. Nevertheless, UNICEF and partners were able to reach areas difficult to accessin Taiz, Sa’ada, Al Jawf, Marib and Al Bayda.
Regarding the cessation of hostilities, in a jointstatement Ms. Leila Zerrougui - Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict - and Dr. Peter Salama - UNICEF Regional Directorforthe Middle East and North Africa- called on all parties to the conflict “to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, to commit to releasing children who have been recruited and used in the fighting, and to end all grave violations against boys and girls. Parties should take every possible measure to protect schools and hospitals, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to children and all those in need.”
The sustained conflict has left over 21.1 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, as estimated by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) by the end of 2015. But the caseload continues to increase with 2.7 million internal displaced persons (IDP) -according to the latest report of TFPM1 - a six-fold the number of IDPs at the same time last year.
In addition, since 13 April nearly 30,000 people have been affected by flash floods consequence of heavy rains across seven governorates. Floods caused damage to infrastructure and crops, and loss of livestock. Sana'a, Amran and Marib governorates –also affected by the ongoing violence – reported the highest number of people with urgent needs of shelter, food, health and WASH assistance. UNICEF deployed immediate assistance to Amran after the emergency where mobile teams provided health and nutrition assistance.