Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, January - December 2025 | End-of-Year Update

OPERATIONAL CONTEXT

In 2025, Yemen’s displacement crisis continued to deepen rather than stabilize, layered on top of a decade-long emergency that has eroded services, livelihoods, and coping capacity. For millions of families, displacement was not a temporary disruption, but an ongoing reality shaped by rising poverty and weakened systems. Humanitarian needs remained exceptionally high, with 19.5 million people requiring humanitarian assistance and protection, and nearly 4.8 million Yemenis internally displaced—many for years and often in overcrowded sites or insecure shelter conditions.
Yemen also continued to host more than 63,760 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, the majority from Somalia and Ethiopia, many of whom have lived in Yemen for decades. It remains the only country on the Arabian Peninsula to have acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, reflecting a longstanding tradition of protection despite the pressures of prolonged crisis.

Funding constraints remained a defining challenge throughout 2025, affecting the scale and continuity of assistance at a time when needs remained exceptionally high. In parallel, the operating environment in areas under the control of the Sana’a de facto authorities further deteriorated.

Three waves of detentions of UN and humanitarian personnel were reported during the year, including one UNHCR national staff member. International staff, including the UNHCR Representative, were also temporarily detained for several days.

These developments prompted the relocation of international UN staff from Sana’a and a shift to remote working modalities. Further escalation of the security environment, including incidents affecting UN premises, led to a broader humanitarian reorganization. These constraints significantly impacted humanitarian access and the ability to sustain regular operations at scale, underscoring the importance of maintaining staff safety and minimum operational safeguards to enable continued delivery.

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