Ms Dina El-Mamoun:

I thank the committee for inviting us to appear before it. On the access to humanitarian supplies, we have repeatedly faced difficulties with their importation. Last year, for example, we tried to bring in supplies for treating cholera. That was supposed to be rapid, with supplies from different countries, but we ended up in a situation where it took us months before we could get the supplies into the country and then distribute them. That was because the access restrictions are twofold, relating to bringing the supplies into the country and the fact that movement within the country is curtailed. We must, therefore, obtain endless permits, which has resulted in us being unable to distribute the supplies throughout the country, at least two months after they reached Yemen. The concern is that we face the same problem again because we definitely need supplies in order to treat cholera. While the UN is devising a list of the supplies needed, we could well face the same situation we faced last year due to the access restrictions.

On attacks on humanitarian workers, that takes several shapes. On the one hand, access is again an issue. For us to access areas we need to cover, due to the situation in certain parts of the country, our permits are often rejected. Our team's permits have been rejected on at least three occasions in the past three months. Ours is not an isolated case. Most international non-governmental organisations will have faced similar problems. There are also checkpoints along the roads. If we want to go to an area such as Hajjah, which is an area not only in conflict but also high in cholera and food insecurity, we find there are at least 30 checkpoints between it and Shaharah. Along that route, anything could happen. Encountering a checkpoint could mean that we will be stuck or that we will sail through; we never know and that is part of the obstacles that we face daily. We simply need to act quickly but we struggle to do so with the restrictions we face on the ground.