Yemen Eco| Special:
An economic journalist exposed the extent of corruption practiced by UN bodies operating in Yemen, through the amounts they spent from the allocations to support the humanitarian response plans, during the period from 2015 to 2023.
Economic journalist Nabil Al-Sharaabi said, in a post on his Facebook page, monitored by “Yemen Eco” website, that the total amounts spent by the United Nations bodies operating in Yemen from the pledges delivered to support the humanitarian response plans in Yemen during the period from 2015 to 2023 amounted to 2.4 billion dollars, in a section that was not reported, as stated in the reports of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen OCHA, as follows:
2023 $50,878,609
2022 $214,007,665
2021 $241,795,031
2020 $336,298,073
2019 $671,571,345
2018 $387,574,230
2017 $302,315,490
2016 $210,889,400
2015 $198,658,965
Total of : $2,403,039,390
Al-Sharaabi explained that the UN bodies operating in Yemen did not declare these amounts as part of their activities or as part of the required needs, and the OCHA reports stated that they were spent as above, under the “not reported” section – literally – and in the expenditure column, it is stated that 100% of the funds were spent, according to Al-Sharaabi.
Al-Sharaabi noted that in a clarification published in 2019, the OCHA office stated that this section – “not reported” – is related to a portion of the funds received by the UN envoy’s office in Geneva with out know were it spent.
He added: “The other side of these funds, although OCHA confirmed that it had received them, it did not explain where and how they were spent, and only described them as ‘unreported’ but 100% spent,” stressing that “this section has nothing to do with the areas of work of UN bodies in Yemen at all, such as nutrition, health, refugees, education, and even communications and logistics expenses for the UN bodies.”
He continued: “This is a corruption that the United Nations must reveal before promoting the need to hold a donor conference to support the humanitarian response plan in Yemen for the current year 2024”.
Al-Sharaabi emphasized that without exposing this corruption, “there is no reason to exploit the humanitarian need in Yemen to beg the world for donations and then tamper and corrupt these donations.”
On Monday, the Yemeni government renewed its call on brotherly and friendly countries and international donor organizations to continue to donate generously to support Yemen’s 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan in a way that meets the scale of existing humanitarian needs, stressing that it looks forward to the initiative to convene a donor conference to mobilize the required funding.
In a statement to the Security Council during the open session on the situation in the Middle East (Yemen), monitored by Yemen Eco, the government expressed its openness and welcomes all initiatives and good offices aimed at achieving a comprehensive and sustainable peace, calling on the United Nations and the international community to keep the humanitarian situation in Yemen on its list of priorities in light of the multiplicity of humanitarian crises around the world.
