Letter to Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States - Young, Murphy Urge Saudi Arabia To Donate To United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan For Yemen
Letter
Dear Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud,
We are writing today regarding the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen and current funding shortfalls facing the relief effort. As you know, Yemen is currently the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Addressing people's severe humanitarian needs -- and especially preventing a large-scale famine -- is an essential part of our mutual efforts to bring about lasting peace in Yemen.
As members who follow developments in Yemen closely, we deeply appreciate contributions the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has made to the humanitarian response to alleviate the worst outcomes for the most vulnerable Yemenis. These contributions have saved millions of lives.
Unfortunately, the international community again faces an urgent crisis as critical programs to provide food, water, sanitation, fuel and medicine have begun to shut down due to lack of donor support in 2020. 16 million people in Yemen are already going hungry, and the humanitarian situation is falling off a cliff. Without renewed support, this has the potential to be catastrophic for the prospects for peace in the country -- a peace that reverberates throughout the region.
We therefore ask that you consider contributions to the Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen consistent with your generous commitments in 2018 and 2019 to help prevent the worst humanitarian outcomes for Yemeni civilians impacted by the conflict, risk of famine and communicable diseases such as COVID. These previous contributions saved countless Yemeni lives, staving off famine and curtailing the world's largest cholera outbreak. In parallel, we are also advocating similarly robust levels of support from the United States and other donors.
Thank you for your attention during this critical moment. We look forward to working with you to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Sincerely,
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