YEMAC issues statement on its activities cessation as result of UNDP actions

Yemen Executive Mine Action Center (YEMAC) in Sana ‘a renewed its invitation to the Humanitarian Coordinator and the OCHA to disassociate itself from the work of the Centre on political matters because its functions are humanitarian and serve all segments of society in the various republic governorates.

In a statement received on Sunday by the Yemeni News Agency (SABA), the Centre indicated that it receives daily reports from citizens in various provinces and districts contaminated with mines, cluster bombs, and war remnants to intervene to save them from them, most recently last Thursday in the al-Durayhimi and al-Jarahi districts of Hodeida province, killing a child and injuring three others.

He pointed out that more than 275 civilians have been recorded falling in the Hodeida governorate only since the beginning of this year in a preliminary statistic as a result of the explosion of these dangerous wastes.

He noted that the widespread pollution and increased number of victims in many governorates of the Republic require concerted efforts and intensified demining activities in order to reduce casualties.

The statement stated that the management of the Executive Centre “financially” was carried out directly by UNDP, which had reduced the remaining two years of mine-related activities for the Executive Centre in Sana’a.

He pointed out that at the end of last year the Center worked on the implementation of clearance and opening of roads in Hodeida province, which is the second-largest province in terms of population, and the only remaining part of the activities, namely mine clearing activity, cluster bombs and remnants of war, has been reduced by providing fuel only a small amount since the beginning of the year and is considered a necessary requirement for the operation of the work and activities of the Center.

He pointed to UNDP’s attempt to shirk its role in the most basic requirements for fieldwork as stipulated in the Ottawa Convention.

The Executive Center warned against the departure of the specific unit of revealing dogs from readiness, which is considered the main tributary of the clean-up work after preventing aggression from entering the detectors, even though they are humanitarian equipment. He said the denial of access to these devices impeded humanitarian access to civilians and the failure to take the necessary measures to avoid the dangers of remnants of war.

“Since the beginning of March 2022, several meetings have been held at the Supreme Council for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to avoid the suspension of the center’s activities due to the suspension of fuel allocations by the United Nations, but no solutions have been found and no responses have been received by UNDP so far, which has forced the Centre to issue this statement in order to explain why the center’s activities have ceased,” he said.

According to the statement, the Center has already raised all the problems it faces to the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the competent authorities, and the actions followed by the United Nations to disrupt the work of the field center before it stopped and completely paralyzed it, in the absence of a response from UNDP and indifference to the cessation of the center’s humanitarian activities in saving civilian lives.

The Executive Mine Action Centre appealed to civil society organizations to play their awareness-raising role in supporting victims as well as affected communities, thereby reducing further casualties, as well as supporting and assisting victims of such waste.

He blamed the aggression coalition for the fall of civilians by preventing the entry of disinfection devices into areas affected by cluster bombs and residues, which he used excessively without respect for human rights. He called on the media to go to the work areas of the field teams to see the extent of pollution in the affected areas and the difficulties facing the executive center.