Resident Coordinator’s Annual Report 2013

Resident Coordinator’s Annual Report 2013

February 4, 2015

Brief description of major developments or political events that have had an effect on the work of the UNCT:

    The National Dialogue Conference dominated the political life of Yemen in 2013. After months of difficult negotiations to determine the political components and delegation composition, the dialogue structure, and rules of procedures, the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) started on 18 March 2013 and was expected to conclude its work within six months. The NDC was prescribed in the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) mechanism to seek agreement on a number of issues, chief among them, the structure of a state and political system, the elements for a new constitution and address the issues of the south and Sa'adah.

    Nine working groups were established to consider the contentious issues, each reflective of the NDC diversity. Good progress was made throughout the conference including in the month of Ramadhan. However by September the pace slowed down considerably. There was a breakdown of the discussions on the southern issue and the General People's Congress obstruction to language referring to immunity and political exclusion in reports of other working groups. Intensive mediation efforts by the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Yemen and his team, as well as the G10 members (UN Security Council permanent members and GCC countries) key Yemeni leaders, in the following months resulted in agreement by mid-January 2014 on all of the NDC outcomes.

    Despite positive political developments in 2013, Yemen continues to be a large-scale humanitarian crisis, with more than half the population – 14.7 million people - in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. They include 10.5 million people who are food insecure, of which 4.5 million are severely food insecure. An estimated 1,080,000 children under-5 suffer from acute malnutrition, including 279,000 children that are severely acutely malnourished. About 13.1 million Yemenis – over half of the population – have no access to improved water sources, with rural areas worst affected. Half the population lacks adequate sanitation facilities. A further 8.6 million people have insufficient access to health services. Fighting in Dammaj, Sa'adah resulted in civilian causalities, a two month blockade of Sa'adah, lack of access to vulnerable people in parts of Hajjah and displacement in Amran.

    The security situation in Yemen deteriorated significantly in 2013 with a rise in the number of kidnappings of foreigners, including of a UN staff in October, and the increase in the use of Improvised Explosive Devices. In each of the last four months of 2013, AQAP carried out complex attacks on military installations. The last one, in December, resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including of international development workers. The deteriorating security situation has had an impact on the UN, as the Security Management Team agreed to reduce the staff numbers in country for August, October and December, affecting programme delivery and staff morale. 

Document Type
Regions and Countries