Yemen: A Forgotten War, A United Nations Crisis

Problem Statement

The war in Yemen has cost more than 10,000 civilian lives and placed 86% of people in Yemen in need of either food, water or medicine. United Nations involvement so far has been characterized by three rounds of failed peace talks and aid deployments that have been at the mercy of Saudi decisions to open the ports in Yemen. United Nation’s involvement in Yemen has failed before because it has been focused on supporting political elites. While this has been useful to achieve short bursts of stability, it has fed into root causes for the war such as disenfranchisement.

The United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yemen, faces a moral and analytical impetus to increase its involvement in Yemen. The UNOCHA is the actor best poised to create a change in this cycle. Its unique experience in state building and moderating conflicts across the world means it would be most effective at exposing the differences actors have between stated goals and actions. The UNOCHA should step into this power vacuum to engage the actors involved through outside pressure to have a meaningful dialogue through involving other international actors such as the European Union (EU) and building on work being done by local activists.

Acting now to prevent the continuation of the war in Yemen could prevent a new wave of refugees and recruits for terrorist organizations such as ISIS and AQAP, and reinforce the UN’s commitment to international human rights. This should be done through regional alliances and the formation of a strong post-war peace process.

The UNOCHA, in tandem with other branches of the U.N., needs to have three goals in Yemen. One, to reduce the killing by all actors in Yemen, especially the Saudi-led coalition. Two, to end the war and three, to have the long term goal of a new national, democratically elected government in Yemen.