Elis Tarelli

Joint Open Letter to the United Nations Security Council Representatives on Yemen

Emmendingen, 28th March 2022

101 organisations working in and on Yemen urge immediate action.

The conflict in Yemen will enter into its eighth year 26 March, and civilians continue to bear the brunt of the fighting. Unlawful attacks are destroying lives and livelihoods, driving widespread displacement, and decimating public infrastructure and the economy, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Yet, the violence, and violations, are only escalating, exacting a devastating toll on civilians. Since the United Nations Human Rights Council’s vote in October to dismantle the Group of Eminent Experts, the sole international, independent accountability mechanism working on Yemen, civilian casualties and unlawful attacks against civilian infrastructure, have almost doubled.

January saw the highest civilian casualties since our record began in 2018, with almost one civilian killed or injured every hour. Airstrikes in early January destroyed 4 schools, 5 hospitals and clinics, 21 telecommunications towers and one water reservoir that served 120,000 people.

One of the worst attacks in the history of the conflict took place on 21 January killing 93 people, injuring another 236, and destroying a telecommunications hub, plummeting the country into a nationwide internet black out, disconnecting Yemen from the rest of the world and disrupting humanitarian operational communications for four days. Likewise, 40 civilians were killed and 75 were injured in shelling incidents, which continue to threaten the lives of more than 1.5 million people in Marib.

Without a strong international, independent accountability mechanism in place, there is no incentive for warring parties to adhere to the rules of war, let alone broker peace. The dangerous legacy of unexploded ordinances and landmines not only increases the daily risk of civilians being killed or maimed but also threatens plans for Yemen’s stabilisation and long-term recovery.

On the other hand, increasingly, the conflict is being waged through economic means, but having a direct and disproportionate impact on civilians. Restrictions on fuel entering the Hodeidah port have resulted in wide-reaching shortages and skyrocketing black market prices. Millions of families are struggling to survive; with the economy collapsed and inflation putting basic goods further out of reach of ordinary people.

Humanitarian access is being used as a bargaining chip. Permission for lifesaving programming continues to be denied or delayed for months. The obstruction of aid by parties to the conflict is exacerbating the country’s dire humanitarian situation. In September, the Yemeni human rights group Mwatana and Global Rights Compliance found that conduct by the Saudi Led Coalition and Ansar Allah severely impeded civilians’ access to food and water, effectively using starvation as a weapon of war, in violation of international humanitarian law.

Interference by authorities also risks compromising humanitarian principles, including independence, setting a dangerous international precedent, and makes reaching and understanding the needs of marginalised communities even harder. Persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, migrants, displaced populations, women, children and the elderly are often cut off from relief despite being disproportionately impacted by the insecurity. Mitigating against that risk, takes time and energy from aid actors that should go towards the affected population.

The year 2022 is the time for global leaders to action their commitments and responsibilities on Yemen. The international community’s empathy should be translated into concrete actions. Millions of innocent children and their families can no longer be a pawn in a politicised conflict.

  • We call on UNSC members to directly engage with all parties to the conflict and urge them to abide by international humanitarian law, international human rights law and the mine ban treaty as well as to ensure immediate and unhindered access for humanitarian organisations and agencies to ensure delivery of life-saving services to the millions of people who most need it. This includes championing the need for resolution of bureaucratic impediments, including delayed and denied project approvals. We remind Member States that measures taken to counterterrorism must comply with their obligations under IHL (UNSC Resolution 2482), and that counterterrorism measures and sanctions should not have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population.
  • We further call for protection of civilians to be prioritised within the escalating hostilities. States, that have direct influence over parties to the conflict, should champion adherence to fundamental obligations under international law, including reminding them that civilian infrastructure is not a military objective, nor should be used for military purposes, and that non-target lists must be updated. Moreover, we appeal to all states to immediately halt arms transfers and military support to all parties of the conflict.
  • We demand an end to impunity and call for Members States not to block reinstatement of an international, independent accountability mechanism to monitor ongoing violations and abuses and hold those involved to account. This includes state leaders stepping up to champion such a cause, and states from all regions taking a principled stance to end impunity for international crimes [including those aiding and assisting such crimes], and in the interim, increasing funding to support the UN’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on Children and Armed Conflict and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • To be able to continue providing lifesaving services, we call for increased financial support to the most underfunded parts of the response, particularly education and protection, and for you to work with us all to hold the international response architecture, including the Humanitarian Coordinator, UN Special Envoy and others to account for their performance, delivery of strategy and feedback to civil society.
  • Last but not least, we urge the UNSC to do everything in its power to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and local organisations. Kidnappings, hijacking of cars, and attacks on humanitarian sites continue, and local civil society organisations are particularly vulnerable to threats of incarceration and coercion.

Although this crisis may not be dominating news headlines, the people of Yemen deserve better. There is not a moment to lose. The world cannot continue to look on shamelessly while millions of civilians in Yemen continue to suffer on a daily basis.

SIGNATORIES 

  1. ACTED
  2. Abs Development Organization for Woman and Child
  3. Action Against Hunger
  4. ADRA
  5. Advance Foundation for Development
  6. Airwars
  7. Aspiring Communities Together (ACT Sheffield)
  8. Balkees Granddaughter Organization
  9. Bassma Foundation for Development and Rights
  10. Bidaya Youth Foundation
  11. Build it Up Incubator for Social Enterprise
  12. Building Foundation for Development
  13. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
  14. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
  15. CARE International
  16. Children’s Parliament
  17. Civil Society Coalition for Peace
  18. Civilians in Conflict
  19. Dameer for Rights and Liberties
  20. Danish Refugee Council
  21. Defense for Children International — Yemen
  22. Democracy School
  23. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
  24. Direct Aid
  25. Emergency
  26. Equality Foundation for Rights and Freedoms
  27. Esnad Foundation for Development
  28. Ethra Development Organization
  29. Fida International
  30. Future Feminist Foundation for Development
  31. Geneva Call
  32. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
  33. Global Communities
  34. Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion
  35. Harmony Foundation for Development
  36. Himaya Foundation for Social Cohesion
  37. Hodaida Girls Foundation for Development
  38. Human Appeal
  39. Human Life Foundation
  40. I Am for My Country Foundation
  41. Improve Your Society Organization
  42. Injaz for Development
  43. International Rescue Committee
  44. INTERSOS
  45. Itisal for Development
  46. Jude Foundation for Sustainable Development
  47. Jusoor Foundation for Coexistence
  48. Kayan Foundation for Peace and Development
  49. Masaq Organization for Development
  50. Mawred for Development and Human Rights
  51. Medair
  52. Medecins du Monde
  53. Mercy Corps
  54. Musaala Organization for Human Rights
  55. Mwatana for Human Rights
  56. National Prisoners Foundation
  57. Norwegian People’s Aid
  58. Norwegian Refugee Council
  59. NYCMedics
  60. Oxfam
  61. Partners Yemen
  62. Peace and Building Foundation
  63. Peace School
  64. Polish Humanitarian Action
  65. Première Urgence Internationale
  66. Pure Hands
  67. Qatar Charity
  68. Qudrah Organization for Sustainable Development
  69. Rafed Foundation for Rights, Liberties and Protection
  70. Relief & Development Peer Foundation (RDP)
  71. Relief International
  72. Right Foundation for Human Rights
  73. Saba Kingdom for Development
  74. Sada Foundation for Building and Development
  75. SAM for Rights and Liberties
  76. Saferworld
  77. Samaritan’s Purse
  78. Save the Children
  79. Search for Common Ground
  80. Secours Islamique France
  81. Shadow World Investigations
  82. Sheba Youth Foundation for Development
  83. Solidarites International
  84. Take my Hand Charitable Foundation
  85. Tamdeen Youth Foundation
  86. Tearfund
  87. The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
  88. Together We Rise Foundation for Women and Child Care
  89. Vision Hope International
  90. Wama Organization for Development and Human Rights
  91. War Child UK
  92. Watch for Human Rights
  93. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Sweden
  94. Yemeni Community Association in Sandwell
  95. Yemeni Community Association of Greater Manchester
  96. Yemeni Development Network for NGOs
  97. Youth Beginning for Sustainable Development
  98. Youth Empowerment Foundation for Development
  99. Youth Forum for Peacebuilding
  100. Youth Unity Association
  101. ZOA

* All data, unless otherwise referenced, is from the Civilian Impact Monitoring Project, a service of the Protection Cluster Yemen. Civilian Impact Monitoring Project, Protection Cluster Yemen, accessed 2 March 2022 <https://civilianimpactmonitoring.org>

5.000€ for Hope kindergartens from the charity run

Berlin, 24th January 2022

An incredible €5,116.15 was donated by the Erika-Mann Elementary School in Berlin-Wedding to Hope Kindergartens in Jordan. The lovingly designed check was handed over to our staff member in Berlin, Stephan Krämer, by the principal Mrs. Habermann and the teacher Mrs. Weiß, who organizes the students’ parliament.

The money was raised by the 590 students during a sponsored run. The school’s student parliament had decided that half of the money raised should be used to support children in Vision Hope projects.

Vision Hope helps refugee children to cope with their often traumatic experiences and to prepare them for their time at school. The children ran a total of 5,492 laps. The total distance of 2,746 km corresponds to the distance between Germany and Jordan.

A big thank you to the students, teachers, and staff of the Erika-Mann Elementary School in Berlin for their wonderful commitment to children in Jordan.

Children helping children

Herbolzheim, 18th December 2021

A big thank you and praise to the pupils of Wagenstadt Primary School for their great commitment and support for the refugee children in Jordan. Last week they presented us with a cheque for 2,700 euros, an amount they raised through a charity run. With this money, we will support our Hope kindergartens in Jordan. Many thanks also to the school management and the Wagenstadt school’s association for organizing and supporting such initiatives. Here you will find a short report about the cheque presentation in the Badische Zeitung.

Donation handover at school: from left, headmaster Reinhard Bührer, Lars Schärer from Vision Hope, Sven Kern from the school association and the two class representatives Mick and Matteo (Photo: Schule Wagenstadt)

Source: Badische Zeitung

Give children new hope

Emmendingen, 13th December 2021

In difficult times like these, we don’t just want to be moved, we want to move! For this, we need your support!

In Yemen, more than 20.7 million people need humanitarian aid. Due to armed conflicts and war, the situation is precarious. Children, in particular, are suffering: 7 million of them have too little to eat, 1.8 million are severely malnourished. We support children in children’s homes – currently about 130 Yemeni boys. Recently, it has become possible to sponsor one of these children through our Children Sponsorship Program.

In Jordan, access to drinking water is limited. By taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, most of them minors, the country is overburdened – the health and education system is on the verge of collapse.

To improve the situation of the children, we are active through the Hope Kindergartens. Children attending these Kindergartens have access to a wide range of educational opportunities that continue beyond kindergarten age into their school years.

Despite generous donations this year, many of our expenses are still not covered. We still need about €80,000 to continue helping. Support our campaign with a donation and give children in Yemen and Jordan new hope!

Each of these children counts.

Each one of you counts.

Our new Children’s Sponsorship Program

Emmendingen, 11 August 2021

The children living in the orphanages in Hajjah and Al-Mahwit are among the most vulnerable and weakest in the crisis in Yemen. Their lives are marked by experiences of war, food shortages and poverty. But the children in the orphanages are also simply and first of all children: with dreams, hobbies, talents. Children who want to learn, children in the growth phase, children who have emotions.

I was lucky enough to grow up in rich Germany. I never had to worry about food and drink. Is that fair? I do not think so … The children in Yemen suffer under circumstances that they did not cause and that they cannot change.

That is why I’ve been involved in the development of the VHI Children’s Sponsorship Program since the beginning of this year.  The program starts exactly there: taking children seriously in their life situation, in their acute need, but also in their dreams, in who they are and want to become. Vision Hope has been involved in local projects in Hajjah and Al-Mahwit for some time. Through these projects, the living conditions of many children and their families have already been sustainably improved.

The sponsorship program builds on this – and goes one step further: What if each of these children had a sponsor who donated regularly – so that the child did not have to worry about food or water supplies, but could focus on learning, growing, playing, on “being a kid”? What if each of these children had a sponsor from whom they received letters. And can write letters. With whom they can build a bond? Even over a distance? What if each of these children had a sponsor who prayed for them or wished them good things?

I would like us to help these children together, with staff on the ground in Yemen and here from Germany.  Not because we are particularly good or charitable, but because these children have no more and no less a right to it than we do. It is my wish that in this way we can fight together against the crisis, against need and injustice in a very concrete way. I am convinced that the sponsorship program will help to do just that.

Join us in this great effort. With only 30 Euros you can provide a child with food and clean water for a whole month. You can find more information about the child sponsorship program here: Children Sponsorship Program.

If you would like to help children in Yemen grow up with hope and prospects, please contact us directly: sponsorachild@vision-hope.net


Hanna Schrodt, Volunteer in the VHI Main Office in Germany
Responsible for the Children’s Sponsorship Program

The 2020 Annual Report in new gloss

Emmendingen, July 2, 2021

The Annual Report for 2020 is out and invites you to browse and read it. So far it has been completed in English, but we are working on translations into German and Arabic. In order to present the diversity of our work and the most important developments of the past year even more impressively, the design of the report has undergone a freshening up – be curious to explore it!

In a compact and descriptive form with many pictures and reports on the various projects, it becomes clear how the assistance reaches the people for whom we are working. This help is also made possible by the commitment and support of many of you, and for this we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you! With a grateful look at the past year, we are also spurred on in 2021 to continue to put all our energy into helping the people in our project countries and also to start new projects.

The Annual Report 2020 is available here as a PDF. Feel free to contact us if you would like to receive a printed copy of the annual report. Of course, we are also available to answer any questions you may have about the contents.