Al Masirha Channel,Tawoos : our condition not outside state’s sovereignty, and people’s dignity.
▪️ Supreme Counciland the government’s role is limited to coordinating for organizations and facilitating their work within the humanitarian track.
▪️ most organizations are randomly working and do not take in consideration the needs of citizens,instead they carry out secondary projects.
▪️The Council seeks that the citizens should get benefit from aid more than those who are in charge of it as it is.
▪️ who wants to make sure if our words are true or not, just go back to the numbers that the organizations disclose, and they’ll find out the extent of the manipulation.
▪️ observation of the performance of organizations is of great concern to them, as they evade it and consider it to be interference with their independence.
▪️ organizations work with partners of their choice and if these projects fail, they attribute this failure to us.
United Nations organizations are stepping up and even threatening to suspend relief operations in the targeted areas under the control of the army and popular committees, accusing the concerned parties here in Sana’a of obstructing their relief work as a result of their supervisory role that prevents organizations from tampering with funds allocated to relief Yemenis, although Recent UN data have estimated that aid provided since the beginning of the aggression has exceeded $25 billion, but the tragic humanitarian situation indicates that significant corruption is guaranteed by the work of international organizations that confirm that the need for Yemenis is increasing day by day.
Recently, international organizations have gone too far United Nations organizations accuse the national party of all the flaws that marred the relief work accompanied by an organized media campaign, so it was necessary that the concerned party confronts that so that the reader and the public opinion can know everything where the newspaper al-Marsirha?met the Secretary-General of the The Supreme Council of the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation(SCMCHA) Abdul Mohsen Al-Tawoos sat down and returned with this dialogue.
Interviewer: Farouk Ali
– At the begining ,Mr. Abdul Mohsen nearly five years of extensive work for the UNITED NATIONS organizations. What is your assessment of her work over the past period? And what role do you play?
The work of the organizations is supposed to be subject to humanitarian standards and the organizations must adhere to the principle of transparency, which is one of the most important principles of their work, but unfortunately they are committed to the principle of independence to undermine the principle of transparency, even though we do not try to undermine their independence and have partners who choose them to carry out their work independently and we do not intervene in directing assistance to any party, but we are aware that we are responsible for coordinating with organizations to cover the needs of all citizens.
Our role as a council in particular and as a government in general is to coordinate the work of the organizations and facilitate their work within the humanitarian field that moves away from randomness , does not violate the sovereignty of the country ,does not concern the citizen and in order to ensure the provision of assistance allocated to Yemen from various donors and donors from around the world so that It is aimed at meeting the necessary and urgent needs of the most needy.
Unfortunately, most organizations are accompanied by their random works and lack of consideration of the country’s needs, but most of their projects focus on the implementation of some projects that are not important and ignore the priority aspect especially in our country, which is suffering from the blockade and the war imposed on it by a broad global and international alliance, which unfortunately has a role to play humanitarian aspect by directing the work of the organizations alongside its military role, flouting humanitarian standards and principles, and its strangeness.
During our work in SCMCHA, we seek to coordinate the work of organizations in accordance with the needs of citizens, and to have as much financial allocations as possible for citizens and not for those who provide such assistance from various organizations, as well as the principles that the organizations raise. It is confirmed when it seeks to bring the money from donors or , but when the money comes and the support is there, that changes in the field and the organizations get the lion’s share of that assistance, and the citizen gets crumbs compared to the amounts approved, and that has a major impact on the beneficiaries who came Support for them and organizations have come for them.
In order not to be overestimated by us, any citizen can estimate this through the amounts announced and what reaches the citizens, and how that money, if it properly directed, would change the reality of those affected in a striking and clear manner and not just a slight or instant animated change.
This point is a source of concern for the organizations and they consider it may interfere with their independence, which we consider to be a transition from independence to exploitation, and I believe that if they applied the principle of transparency and explained everything to the people, and if there was a neutral international and local regulatory body, the society at home and abroad would realize that this situation should not be Silence him.
Nevertheless, we are trying as much as possible to change that situation gradually based on our appreciation of the situation in Yemen, and the global situation in general, which has enabled these organizations and their officials to exploit the situation of the people.
Are there any other observations you see in their work?
The most important gaps that accompany the work of the organizations were addressed in the answer to the previous question in addition to trying to exceed the limits of humanitarian work and circumvent ing the laws of the country as well as financial and administrative corruption that is associated with the purchases and special equipment of the organizations, and the recruitment of cadres Internationalism based on cronyism, common interests and the formation of personal team and loyalties in order to continue to be financially absurd and to waste the financial resources allocated to the most needy.
– There are many complaints we hear from some of the employees of the organizations that say that the authorities in the rescue government are a barrier to the implementation of the programs they seek to implement. How do you respond to that?
With regard to obstacles, there are no obstacles, but we are keen to provide all the facilities for humanitarian work that aims for the goal which has been created as much as possible, as we have already said.
The issue of coordination and management of humanitarian affairs as it is required of us as a council representing the government and as organizations that are supposed to carry out humanitarian work that serves the aspirations and needs of those affected. This point is an obstacle from their perspective, as we have explained above.
Although it is natural of humanitarian work in all countries, as stipulated by international law, the state must be the coordinator of the work of the organizations in the country.
They want to work on their own randomly, in a framework that departs from the actual needs, with partners of their choice and then fail, waste a lot of money, in the end they attribute that failure to us and make up excuses that are not accepted by a reasonable person.
They are also trying to make the issue of Ansar Allah component in an attempt to politicize the miserable to incite society for political purposes and this confirms their intelligence intentions, although the Council and statistics are institutional, not partisan, and represent employees of all segments and have regulated laws for their actions.
What is the validity of the information that the United Nations is in the process of reducing the funds it puts in the accounts of the banks supervised by the relevant ministries?
We are not surprised that they have reduced the aid because of the intention to do so in advance and we have information with these intentions in advance since October 2019 in addition to that they are delaying the implementation of the survey after they learned our seriousness in participating in the survey process from the beginning of the process of collecting data to the end of its analysis and reaching the real need of the affected families.
This is what we agreed with the UN organizations and they are associated with this, but they thought it was a formality as before, and when they came to the conviction that we wanted actual participation they were trying to disrupt the survey process because it would not be compatible with their intention and what they had decided in advance to reduce aid.
However, after attempting to disrupt the survey process with flimsy arguments , new demands to circumvent what we agreed upon, they are now trying to fabricate excuses and false excuses to pass their decision to stop aid.
We in the Supreme Council have transparency and credibility and we have nothing to hide and we are ready to inform any neutral party with all the details, discussions, speeches and fair will be clear to him the sincerity of what we are saying and will know that there is no logical in their circumvention of the agreed survey process. Also, in the case of a neutral entity, it will reveal a lot of financial corruption and tampering with the beneficiaries’ funds because they are procrastinating in keeping the Council with the financial details related to the projects, but we have certain information to do so through our discussions with them and to wrap them around on items on which they have spent a lot of money and return without regard to all that money that has been tampered with.
Is it true that the Council is asking for 2% for all projects?
It is natural that the Council needs a minimum ratio for the management and coordination of humanitarian affairs, as it is with the competent authorities within the country as a companion partner of the organizations in coordinating humanitarian work, from the review of projects and the signing of their agreements to the follow-up and evaluation of their implementation in the field.
For the record, the supply of 2% of the project value to the Council’s account was provided by presidential resolution No. (201) and the date of 6/11/2019 for the establishment of the Supreme Council for the Management and Organization of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation
For example, in 2019, 4.2 billion dollars of support for the response plan was approved, 25% of which was deducted before it arrived in Yemen , as well as in Yemen 7% is deducted for each project of the Resident Coordinator and OCHA.
Although the role of the Council, as mentioned above, cannot be compared with those who deduct those percentages from projects.
To be more frank and clear, away from diplomacy, the amount of amplification that the Humanitarian Coordinator raises on this subject is not the fact that she is concerned about the beneficiaries’ money and has no problem, even if 10% of any project is spent on the Council in case all the unfair requirements are met and the organizations are left to do what they want.
The issue that we are aware of through our dealings with them is that they are trying to prevent the provision of the simplest necessary resources to the Council in order to ensure that joint action is activated in the required way that is in the interest of the affected beneficiaries, which, as we have shown, is contrary to the interests of the organizations that take the lion’s share of what they offer.
Nevertheless, the Council has provided an initiative to Mr. Mark Lukk that we in the Council are keen to provide humanitarian assistance to the oppressed people, who are subjected to the greatest humanitarian disaster and lack the most basic services and the necessary strength due to the unjust aggression and the blockade imposed on it by the Alliance of Aggression since 2015 and now five years, and from this point on in the Supreme Council, we are determined to suspend 2% in 2020 in exchange for providing solutions that enable everyone to carry out their responsibilities and enable the Council to provide all facilities and services to all organizations.
What are the conditions set by the Council to regulate the work of the organizations and what is your response that this is a restriction on their work?
What we put forward during our administration and coordination of humanitarian affairs does not go beyond the scope of the country’s sovereignty and the dignity of the citizen and ensure that the aid reaches its beneficiaries in a timely manner and to the extent available to ensure the coverage of as many beneficiaries as possible.
Also through our meeting with the officials of the organizations we understand any logical thesis from them, and we are keen to solve the obstacles and problems first and foremost.
There are some who are really few who are aware of their humanitarian intentions and we feel their eagerness to continue humanitarian work as required, but they find those who are forced to turn the path in one way or another, and perhaps the lobby of most organizations has a big role to play.
However, we try not to stop working and offer some solutions on our part to do so and agree with them and we are surprised to get around what has been agreed upon or that there has been a failure on their part or between them or their own partners of their own choosing.
Organizations claim that the Council is asking them to do things that violate international law, such as disclosing the names of the beneficiaries of the aid. What is your response to that?
We emphasize that in our discussions with organizations in general, we seek to implement the principle of transparency, which is one of the most important principles of humanitarian action, and we emphasize that avoiding the embodiment of this concept in the name of violating international law does not serve humanitarian action.
We have repeatedly stressed that we are negotiating with organizations and coordinating their actions as a state with the responsibility of coordinating and managing humanitarian work in front of their citizens, unfortunately some organizations want to deal with us at a lower level than with another organization or one of their local partners, as they share data among themselves as organizations, which is known to them.
When they come to us, they provide justifications for not being informed as a coordinated and responsible body before the citizens of the names of the beneficiaries (citizens of the Republic of Yemen), under the pretext of violating international law in the case of disclosing their names, forgetting the responsibility of the State towards its citizens, who did not enter the list of beneficiaries despite their entitlement and despite the applicable criteria on them as agreed between the Council and the organizations.
“Every country has a responsibility first and foremost to care for the victims of natural disasters and other emergencies that occur on its territory. Therefore, the affected state has a key role to play in initiating, organizing, coordinating and implementing humanitarian assistance within its territory.”
We are also morally committed not to disclose the names of the beneficiaries, and organizations must act transparently and there is a clear mechanism on the part of the organizations to know where the aid is being conducted, who has been discharged, who has not received and how much of the assistance has not received and how much of the assistance is left, because there is significant and tangible financial corruption and that there are food tankers sold to local merchants of aid allocated on behalf of the organizations through the partners of those organizations that depend on them for registration and distribution. This is what they should focus on and we are on their side to solve such problems and are willing to take legal action against violators if the organizations are serious about it.
