KSRelief pledges $1.6 million to improve women and girls’ protection services in Yemen

KSRelief, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre, has contributed $1.6 million to support UNFPA’s emergency services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. This support will help to reach nearly 30,000 of the most vulnerable women and girls in Yemen. 

With KSRelief’s support, UNFPA will improve safe access and availability of gender-based violence services in areas where women and girls’ protection needs have increased. The funds will directly support operations in eight safe spaces and two safe shelters to provide psychosocial support services, legal aid and livelihood opportunities for survivors of gender-based violence.

“In times of crisis we often overlook the unique needs of women and girls. Ensuring that women and girls are safe and have the services they require to protect themselves from violence and abuse when fleeing conflict or seeking humanitarian assistance is imperative to any humanitarian response,” said Luay Shabaneh, UNFPA’s Regional Director for Arab States. “We thank the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre for this contribution, which will help UNFPA provide essential gender-based violence services to women and girls in Yemen.”

Approximately three quarters of those displaced in Yemen, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, are women and children. As protection systems break down and families increasingly face stress and poverty, displaced women and girls are made vulnerable to violence, abuse, exploitation and harmful practices such as child marriage. 

KSRelief has been a partner of UNFPA in Yemen since 2015, providing crucial financial support in reaching hundreds of thousands of women and girls with services to both respond to gender-based violence and support their reproductive health.