The donor group supporting the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) held a meeting in Riyadh today. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Aqeel bin Juman Al-Ghamdi, Assistant Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), who is also the head of the group and the representative of the Kingdom to the group. The three-day meeting, which marks the fifth meeting under the Saudi presidency of the donor group for 2022-2023, was attended by more than 500 trainees. The agenda of the meeting included a discussion on proactive work in the humanitarian field, a proposed visit by donor members to South Sudan from March 13 to 17, 2023, and a presentation on Yemen as a pivotal country by the OCHA organization. Dr. Al-Ghamdi said that many stakeholders in the international arena have come to agree on the importance of proactive humanitarian action. He emphasized that there are great opportunities to protect lives and livelihoods, reduce human suffering and losses and that early intervention will reduce vulnerability before a disaster strikes and enhance preparedness for disaster response. He added that the development of the humanitarian approach among donors has taken a positive upward trend in recent years. More than 75 governments and more than 60 humanitarian relief agencies are working to mitigate the expected impact of humanitarian crises. Dr. Al-Ghamdi reiterated the Kingdom's continuous support for humanitarian and development efforts in Yemen. He mentioned that since 2015, the Kingdom has provided a total of $20.7 billion in humanitarian and development aid to Yemen. Of this amount, $14.2 billion was provided for humanitarian aid at the bilateral level, as well as through UN agencies and international and national non-governmental organizations, and in partnership with the private sector and civil society. Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the 5th high-level meeting and gave an overview of global events, especially concerning the earthquake disaster that occurred in Syria and Turkey. He stressed the need to develop and expand the scope of humanitarian teams, especially OCHA in Syria during the current time, citing obstacles that hinder the entry of aid to the stricken areas. Meanwhile, several donors thanked the Kingdom and OCHA for their efforts in Yemen and the coordination with other partners and donors to provide humanitarian aid to Yemen. The next meeting of the donor group will be in Geneva at the expert level on the 27th and 28th of April.
