An estimated 19.5 million people are dependent on aid in Yemen

Yemen has the fifth-largest displacement crisis globally and most are women and children

Funding cuts makes girls increasingly vulnerable to child marriage, human trafficking, begging and child labour

‘We’ve been forced to make life and death decisions on little to no information. Often there is no one to speak to because USAID has been gutted’ – Aid worker

‘Hungry, displaced, and exhausted by violence, people in Yemen already lived in one of the most dire humanitarian crises in the world’ - Diala Haidar

The United States government’s abrupt and irresponsible termination of foreign assistance is putting the health and human rights of millions of people in Yemen who depend on humanitarian aid at risk, Amnesty International said today.    

After a decade of a devastating conflict, Yemen continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.   

Aid workers described to Amnesty how President Donald Trump’s decision to cut US aid funding has led to the shut-down of life-saving assistance and protection services, including malnutrition treatment to children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters to survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare to children suffering from cholera and other illnesses.   

After years of conflict and compounding crises, an estimated 19.5 million people - over half the population - are dependent on aid in Yemen. It has the fifth-largest displacement crisis globally, with an estimated 4.8 million internally displaced people, most of whom are women and children, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Over the last five years, during both President Trump’s first term and President Biden’s presidency, the US has consistently been Yemen’s largest donor, providing $768 million dollars’ worth of support in 2024, comprising half of the country’s coordinated humanitarian response plan.  

Diala Haidar, Amnesty International’s Yemen Researcher, said:

“The abrupt and irresponsible cuts in US aid will have catastrophic consequences on Yemen’s most vulnerable and marginalised groups, including women and children, and internally displaced people, jeopardising their safety, dignity, and fundamental human rights.

“Unless the US immediately reinstates sufficient funding for life-saving aid to Yemen and ensures the money is disbursed expeditiously, an already devastating humanitarian situation will further deteriorate and millions of people will be left without desperately needed support.   

“Other donor governments must also act urgently to uphold their human rights obligations by providing humanitarian assistance and supporting human rights in Yemen.”  

Aid workers on the ground

Amnesty interviewed 10 humanitarian experts and aid workers with direct knowledge of the situation on the ground and six representatives of local human rights organisations, five of which provide direct services to vulnerable groups, all of whom said the impact of the cuts will be devastating, leading to suffering, death and more instability for an already fragile country. All of those interviewed requested to remain anonymous.   

The US State Department designating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation has further compounded the humanitarian situation. The difficulty for aid organisations to certify compliance with the designation in the complex humanitarian environment in northern Yemen forced several international humanitarian organisations to suspend operations in Houthi-controlled territories. The designation created significant confusion and concern, aid workers told Amnesty. An executive order initiating the designation process did not reference any humanitarian exemptions and ordered funds be cut off to any organisation that “criticised international efforts to counter Ansar Allah [the Houthis] while failing to document Ansar Allah’s abuses sufficiently”.   

Since 15 March, the US has also intensified its military operations in Yemen, carrying out several waves of air strikes against Houthi targets, including air strikes on Sana’a, Sa’adah, Hodeidah and other governorates under Houthi control.   

Diala Haidar added:

“The majority of civilians in critical need of aid live in Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen. The US’s designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organisation should not obstruct aid and other supplies indispensable for keeping people alive, in good health and in safety.

“Hungry, displaced, and exhausted by violence, people in Yemen already lived in one of the most dire humanitarian crises in the world. The military escalation in Yemen, along with the US aid cuts, will compound the humanitarian disaster already facing a population still reeling from the long-standing conflict. It doesn’t have to be this way - the US should restart funding to these programmes immediately.”  

USAID gutted

On 20 January, Donald Trump signed a presidential executive order ordering that all foreign aid be paused during a 90-day review to ensure alignment with his administration’s foreign policy. On 24 January, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a stop work order to those delivering assistance worldwide. The US said some exemptions would be granted, including to “life-saving humanitarian assistance”. On 10 March, only six weeks after the review was ordered, Rubio wrote on X that 83% of the foreign aid programmes at USAID had been officially cancelled.   

Humanitarian organisations were left with impossible decisions to make on life-saving services while lacking clear communication from US agencies, such as USAID, multiple aid workers told Amnesty.   

One aid worker said:

“We’ve been forced to make life and death decisions on little to no information. Often there is no one to speak to because USAID has been gutted. People you are emailing are not there. This is impacting our Yemen grant as well as many others elsewhere.”  

On 28 March, the US State Department formally notified Congress it is dissolving USAID, eliminating some functions and moving the remainder under the State Department.  

Devastating impact on women and girls  

Women and girls across Yemen have long faced systemic discrimination and gender-based violence. Yemen has no legal minimum age of marriage, and almost one third of girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriage is associated with a lifetime of human rights harms. Yemen also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Middle East and North Africa, with nearly 200 women dying for every 100,000 births, according to UNFPA.  

According to experts and aid workers interviewed by Amnesty, by March 2025, the USAID funding cuts had already forced the shutdown of dozens of safe spaces designed to prevent or respond to gender-based violence for women and girls across Yemen. They warned that if funding was not restored, dozens of health facilities and reproductive health and protection clinics would shut down, denying hundreds of thousands of women and girls, including survivors of gender-based violence, access to life-saving healthcare, psychosocial support and legal aid.  

A representative of a local organisation that provides a range of services to survivors of gender-based violence, including safe shelter, legal aid, and psychosocial support, said the US aid cuts had severely impacted more than half of their programmes. She told Amnesty:   

“Hundreds of women will be impacted... We are no longer providing psychological support, which is a crucial service for women survivors of gender-based violence. Legal aid counselling will also stop.”   

Diala Haidar, added:

“The US is weakening years-long efforts by Yemeni women-led organisations to support and empower other women. When survivors of gender-based violence lose access to shelters, psychosocial support, referrals to health centres, legal aid and other critical services, they face life-threatening consequences. Funding cuts risk dismantling the existing network of protection and support that has been built over years by Yemeni women human rights defenders and humanitarian organisations, which in turn makes girls increasingly vulnerable, including to child marriage, human trafficking, begging and child labour.”   

US policies on Yemen have also impacted other vulnerable groups, including children and the internally displaced. Approximately 2.3 million children in Yemen, nearly half of children under five, are acutely malnourished according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Several organisations have had to pause or end protection, health and nutrition services they were providing for infants and young children. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people are also projected to lose access to life-saving emergency relief because of the funding cuts.   

Restrictions on human rights work

Representatives of local human rights organisations in Yemen also described how the abrupt cuts jeopardised their work monitoring human rights violations and abuses whilst also undermining the rights of hundreds of the people they have been helping to find shelter, legal aid, and safety, including survivors of gender-based violence, women human rights defenders, and families of victims of enforced disappearance. They described how the move undermined their efforts to pursue justice and accountability in Yemen and feared that it will further embolden perpetrators of abuses   

One human rights defender said: 

“We are already facing restrictions on our [human rights] work by the different authorities [in Yemen], so this felt as if the international community has abandoned us.”

A woman human rights defender explained that the US funding cuts would have a direct impact on victims of human rights violations, including the arbitrarily detained and forcibly disappeared because their documentation work and legal aid services will end. She said: “These victims and their families right to truth and justice is at stake.”  

Another said:

“Funding cuts do not just end projects, funding cuts silence victims' voices and weaken justice in Yemen.”  

UN workers detained    

The Houthis have also exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, targeting aid workers and other international staff working to deliver life-saving services in northern Yemen. Starting on 31 May 2024, they conducted a series of raids in areas under their control, arbitrarily detaining 13 UN staff and at least 50 staff from Yemeni and international civil society organisations. Between 23 and 25 January this year, the Houthis conducted a wave of arrests arbitrarily detaining eight UN staff. On 11 February, one of the eight detained UN staff members died in Houthi custody. Many of those arrested were working to provide assistance or protection to those most in need, and the arrests prompted the UN to announce the suspension of all official movements into and within areas under Houthi control in January.  

Humanitarian donors

Over the last five years, the US has consistently been Yemen’s largest humanitarian donor. Other major donors to the humanitarian response include the United Kingdom, the European Commission, Saudi Arabia and Germany. Even before the US aid cuts, Yemen’s humanitarian response plan was consistently and severely underfunded for years. As of this month, the plan is only 6.9% funded.