ICRC activities are currently managed by the sub delegation in Sa'ada governorate where 11 international and 30 national staff are based. They work in close cooperation with the Yemen Red Crescent Society (YRCS). The ICRC is progressively expanding its activities and boosting its response capacity in different fields to help meet the acute humanitarian needs of the displaced, returnees and vulnerable residents giving shelter to the displaced.

Emergency assistance for people in the North

From September 2007 to March 2008, the ICRC, in cooperation with the YRCS branch in Sa'ada, supported over 80,000 people with emergency aid:

• more than 56,000 returnees were provided with essential household supplies including tents, tarpaulins, mattresses, blankets, jerry cans, stoves and hygiene kits to help them resettle in their places of origin.
• almost 13,000 displaced people in Haïdan district and its surroundings also received essential household supplies.
• over 10,000 displaced people living in camps in Sa'ada city were assisted, including those who later returned to their places of origin.



Access to water and better hygiene conditions

From September 2007 until March 2008, the ICRC facilitated access to clean drinking water of the affected population:

• in the three IDP camps in Sa'ada city the ICRC, in cooperation with the YRCS, provided clean drinking water on a daily basis to around 5,000 individuals. It did this by ensuring that water was trucked in and/or maintaining diesel supplies for water pumps. In addition, showers and toilets were installed to serve the needs of the camp population.
• to help the government ensure water supplies for the population, a generator was donated to Sa'ada City which received the majority of the displaced in 2007.
• in the villages of Al Asaifi and Alredah, water tanks were provided and filled twice a day for 2,400 returnees. In 2008 water pumps were installed in these two locations.
• in Dahyan, the ICRC supported the water authorities by covering part of the costs for the distribution of emergency water tanks until repairs of the water network were possible.
• almost 400 water filters were distributed to the IDP community in Malahete.



Addressing medical needs

The ICRC has provided primary health care for IDPs and vulnerable residents.

• During the period under review, more than 13,000 consultations were carried out in the four IDP camp mobile clinics run in cooperation with the Yemen Red Crescent Society.
• Two ambulances, on standby in Al-Anad and Sam camps, continued to refer all emergency cases to proper health facilities in Sa'ada city where the ICRC covers the costs of treatment.
• A new mobile clinic was opened in February 2008 in the Bugalat IDP camp to cover the needs of its population.
• Health facilities in conflict-affected area were assessed. The Al-Qataber health centre, which serves 23,000 residents, was re-habilitated and provided with basic equipment such as an examination table, basic diagnostic equipment and medicines.



Physical rehabilitation

• The ICRC continued its support to upgrade the skills of orthopaedic technicians at two state-run orthopaedic centres by assuming the costs of the three year teaching and training programme for six students.

• More than 2,600 patients from all over Yemen were fitted with prostheses or orthoses in the three orthopaedic centres supported by the ICRC in Sana'a, Mukallah and Aden.



Restoring and maintaining family links

ICRC tracing services continue to help asylum seekers and refugees, mostly from the Horn of Africa, to locate and restore contact with family members abroad. A total of 45 people were located and able to restore links with their families during the period under review. The service also enables Yemeni families to restore and maintain ties with relatives held in U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

• more than 3,500 Red Cross Messages were exchanged between refugees in Yemen and their families abroad.
• almost 1,000 Red Cross Messages were exchanged between the internees in Guantanamo Bay and their families. This in addition to Eid greeting cards.
• telephone calls were made between internees detained in Guantanamo Bay and their families in Yemen
• almost 400 Red Cross Messages were exchanged between families in Yemen and their relatives detained in Iraq and Afghanistan.



People deprived of their freedom

In Yemen, the ICRC aspires to visit detainees according to the ICRC's standard modalities. A dialogue is currently taking place with the Yemeni authorities regarding access to all detention places under the jurisdiction of the Political Security.

• vocational training for women detained in ten central prisons continues in partnership with the Yemen Red Crescent Society. The project aims to strengthen the skills of imprisoned women in the fields of literacy, sewing, weaving and needlework. In 2008, Sa'ada central prison joined the programme.
• a kindergarten has been opened in Hodeida Central prison where a number of children live with their detained mothers.



Immigration detention facilities in Sana'a

To help the immigration authorities cope with the increasingly large number of people awaiting deportation, the ICRC, in cooperation with the Yemen Red Crescent Society, continues to assist those held in the immigration detention facility in Sana'a. They are provided with food, basic health care and hygiene materials. On a monthly basis the number of people assisted ranges between 50 and 650.