United States Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance for the People of Yemen
Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
During today’s 2022 High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen, I announced nearly $585 million in humanitarian assistance from the United States to the people of Yemen. With this funding, the United States has provided nearly $4.5 billion to the Yemeni people since the crisis began more than seven years ago. Amid all the humanitarian crises in the world, the generosity of the American people remains unwavering. In keeping with the President’s commitment to help alleviate this suffering, today’s announcement is the largest single U.S. contribution to-date for the humanitarian response in Yemen. This announcement also reflects the scale of the crisis facing the Yemeni people.
The assistance includes more than $561 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and more than $23 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). This funding will enable our humanitarian partners to reach approximately 17 million people, including internally displaced and conflict-affected Yemenis, as well as refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen. Our assistance helps reduce the risk of famine, prevent and treat severe malnutrition, stem the spread of disease, provide shelter to those in need, ensure children have access to education, provide families with access to clean water and sanitation, and support families to earn an income and rebuild their livelihoods.
The United States remains committed to delivering aid to the most vulnerable in Yemen, and we commend the generous pledges made by other donors at today’s event. However, more aid is desperately needed. Funding gaps have forced significant cuts to life-saving humanitarian programs, depriving millions of Yemenis of the support they need. As this conflict pushes Yemen deeper into crisis, we urgently call on donors to fulfill pledges quickly and to rapidly scale up assistance. We also urge those who have not yet pledged to do so.
Additionally, this assistance is vital to saving lives and reducing suffering, but it must be able to reach the people who need it most. We again call on all parties to cease interference in aid operations to ensure assistance is reaching its intended recipients.
Humanitarian assistance alone cannot address the roots of this crisis; we urge the parties to the conflict to halt hostilities to make way for a durable, inclusive political solution to this conflict for the sake of the people. We welcome the launch of inclusive consultations by UN Special Envoy Hans Grunberg, and we call on all parties to participate fully in these consultations, which will inform a new, comprehensive UN framework for the peace process.
