ICRC Bulletin - Yemen: ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid thousands as fighting continues

The current armed clashes in northern Yemen have continued for almost three weeks, and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating. Thousands have fled, taking refuge with relatives or host families. Makeshift shelters have been set up in neighbouring areas, but some people have fled as far as the capital Sana'a, more than 300 km to the south.

The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent Society have registered over 25,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the provinces of Sa'ada and Amran and staff of the two organizations are working around the clock to respond to the most urgent needs.

"The dire humanitarian situation is hitting women and children especially hard,” said Daniel Gagnon, the ICRC's acting head of sub-delegation in Sa'ada. But ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid is making a difference. "Some of us have already received mattresses, gas bottles and food," said a displaced woman in Wadi Khaiwan. She and her family had to flee al-Harf city in the north of Amran province. "This helps us get along and makes us less of a burden to our host families and neighbours, who have very little themselves."

In and around Sa'ada city, over 4,200 people are living in Al-Ihsa', Sam and Al-Talh camps, which are run by the ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent. But as Daniel Gagnon points out, "there are thousands more in Sa’ada governorate who need our help.”

Over 5,500 people are staying with host families in Sa'ada city. As the influx continues, the ICRC is looking for ways of accommodating more. "What the people need most is clean water, food and shelter,” said Daniel Gagnon. "With commercial traffic paralyzed because of the fighting, people find it difficult to get supplies.”

The conflict makes it difficult to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid, with fighting in parts of Sa'ada and Amran provinces hampering operations. Despite the obstacles, ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent staff continue to bring help whenever the situation allows them to move safely.

How displaced people have benefited from ICRC activities in recent days

Medical supplies

• A health centre in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received basic medicines and a tent to act as a “waiting room”.



• Yemen Red Crescent staff in Baqim (Sa'ada province) received ICRC support in the form of medicines for the treatment 400 patients.



• The Yemen Red Crescent doctor based in Al-Azgoul received medicines.
  

Food and water

• In Sa'ada province, 5,000 displaced people in the Al-Talh area received flour, rice and cooking oil, while more than 250 people in the Qataber area received flour.



• 5,500 people living with host families in Sa'ada city received flour, rice and beans.



• Several dozen displaced families in Baqim and Al-Mahader (Sa'ada province) received daily water deliveries.



• 850 displaced people in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received drinking water.
  

Shelter and other essential items

• Over 3,500 families who fled to Sa'ada city are receiving basic household items.



• ICRC and YRCS teams have been distributing blankets, mattresses, tarpaulins, jerrycans, soap, stoves, gas cylinders and other items to 2,500 people in the Wadi Khaiwan, Amran province.



• Over 1,900 people from Al-Mahader, west of Sa'ada city, and more than 560 people in Sa'ada city itself received such essential household items as blankets, mattresses, tarpaulins, jerrycans, soap, stoves and gas cylinders.



• 7,000 people registered in the Baqim area should be receiving shelter and other essential items in the next few days. The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent are working on accommodating 3,000 people as soon as possible.
  

The ICRC has been working in Yemen since 1962 and in Sa'ada governorate since 2004. Its workforce has been increasing steadily since the beginning of the year; the organization currently has 111 staff based in the country – 69 in the capital Sana'a, including 19 expatriates, and 42 in Sa'ada, including five expatriates.

SOUTH AFRICAN LAWYER BECOMES NEW UN RIGHTS EXPERT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

A South African lawyer who has also worked as an academic in the human rights field and a campaigner against domestic violence has taken over as the new United Nations independent expert to tackle violence against women.

Rashida Manjoo succeeds Yakin Ertürk as the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and has been initially appointed by the UN Human Rights Council until June 2012.

"Violence against women violates human dignity, as well as numerous rights, including the right to equality, physical integrity, freedom and non-discrimination," said Ms. Manjoo, according to a press statement issued today in Geneva, where the Human Rights Council is based.

"I believe that equality and equal protection doctrines demand that we address violence against women, in all its manifestations, as discrimination against women. It is my hope to work within this framework during my mandate."

Ms. Manjoo has both taught and conducted research at several universities, including Webster University and Harvard Law School, both in the United States, as well as the University of Cape Town.

In her native South Africa, Ms. Manjoo was also a former parliamentary commissioner of the Commission on Gender Equality, conducted training programmes for judges and lawyers on law, race and gender issues, and set up a domestic violence assistance programme at the Durban Magistrates Court, the first such project in a court in her country.

Like other rapporteurs who report to the Human Rights Council, Ms. Manjoo will serve in an unpaid and independent capacity.
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UN AGENCIES HELP SET UP SUPPORT CENTRE FOR RWANDAN SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE

Survivors of child, domestic and gender-based violence in Rwanda will now be able to access the support and services they need at a new "one-stop" centre that will open in the capital, Kigali, thanks to a partnership between national authorities and several United Nations agencies.

The centre will be called Isange – which means feel welcome and free in Kinyarwanda – and will offer medical, legal and psycho-social services to survivors of violence in comfortable and confidential surroundings, according to a news release issued by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

In a recent study by UNIFEM and the National University of Rwanda on sexual and gender-based violence, survivors reported that the way police, hospitals and courts are set up does not provide an appropriate atmosphere to report on violence.

Some services to address such violence do exist but they are "often scattered and inhibit, rather than facilitate, timely and efficient responses."

The Isange Centre, which will be located in Kigali's Kacyriu Police Hospital, will offer a range of services, including protection from further violence, crime investigation, medical testing and referrals to courts of law as well as treatment for physical and psychological trauma.

The initiative is made possible through a partnership agreement signed last week between the Rwanda National Police Health Services and the UN in Rwanda, with support from UNIFEM, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"The United Nations is committed to working with Rwanda's Government and civil society to prevent violence, particularly as it affects children and women," said Aurelien Agbénonci, the UN's Resident Coordinator.

"We have recently provided assistance to national authorities to put in place a multi-sector response and prevention strategy, and this centre goes one step further to make this strategy a reality by providing comprehensive, timely, affordable and effective services."

Similar "one-stop centres" for survivors of violence have also been implemented in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Sweden, according to UNIFEM.
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MIGIRO URGES GREATER EFFORTS TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro has pledged the support of the United Nations in ending violence against women, which she said will require adopting new laws, enforcing the ones that exist and working to change the backward mindsets that contribute to this scourge.

"There is still an enormous amount of work ahead," she said, noting that violence against women is everywhere, on every continent, in poor slums and in rich suburbs.

"But if the challenge of ending violence against women remains monumental, it is at least no longer a lonely task," she told European justice ministers yesterday at their meeting in Tromsø, Norway, which focused on breaking the silence of domestic violence.

"More and more leaders around the world are joining the struggle. More and more individuals understand that any abuse of any woman is intolerable," she said.

Ms. Migiro stressed that domestic violence is "especially evil." Surveys from around the world show that half of the women who die from homicides are killed by their current or former husbands or partners.

"They lose their lives to gunshots, beatings, burns and other horrendous forms of abuse," she stated. "This violence is pervasive and its effects are widespread. Not only are individual women victimized, but whole societies suffer major setbacks."

Breaking the silence that contributes to a culture of impunity, and protecting women and girls, will require "adopting new laws, enforcing the ones we have and working tirelessly to change the backward mindsets that condone, excuse or ignore violence committed against women."

She highlighted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's UNiTE Campaign, which calls on world leaders to spur action through national campaigns and to achieve five key outcomes by 2015.

"By then, we want all countries to have strong laws, action plans, preventive measures and data collection systems. These are the essential elements for stopping and defeating all forms of domestic violence," she stated.

Ms. Migiro added that the Secretary-General had made a personal commitment to this cause since the launching of the campaign, and since then has been using the power of his office to denounce violence against women and children.

She recalled in particular Mr. Ban's recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where he spoke to young victims of horrific crimes.

The Deputy Secretary-General also met with a number of ministers and officials in Oslo during her five-day visit to Norway which wrapped up today.
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