The Islamic World Came Together in Istanbul for Yemen

The Islamic World came together in Istanbul for Yemen.

With the civil war that broke out, Yemen was turned into an arena of hegemony by international powers. The chaotic situation caused by Houthi violence has created a Yemen where even life safety cannot be ensured.

More than 12 million people in the country are at risk of hunger and death. The information conveyed from the field and the news reported by international agencies only cause this disaster to be taken for granted. Unfortunately, as always, the countries of the Islamic world, which have difficulty in taking action, cannot demonstrate the power they should, as they cannot come together effectively. It was our non-governmental organizations and international civil initiatives that remained indifferent to this situation.

The Union of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Islamic World (UNIC) came together with many institutions and organizations that act with the sensitivity of the Ummah and took action to at least partially heal this wound. UNIW, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Hey’el Alemiye lil Mesacid, Nedve’l Alemiye lil Shabab (Wamy) and Yemen Humanitarian Aid Association (YARD) combined their forces and capabilities and organized the International Yemen Humanitarian Aid Conference in Gorrion Hotel, Istanbul. At the conference held in Istanbul on 14-15 August 2015, project-based aid and development targets worth $477 million were set.

International organizations, non-governmental organizations, activists and businessmen from the Islamic world attended the conference.

The following objectives were pursued with the conference:

*  Mobilizing all humanitarian organizations and individuals to assist Yemen

*  Shedding light on the humanitarian drama in Yemen

* Providing essential emergency humanitarian aid to the victimized people in Yemen

* Contributing to development and reconstruction

* Creating a database on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and distributing aid according to international humanitarian standards

As an action plan to achieve these objectives determined within the framework of the conference;

Food: Distributed 2.5 million boxes of food

Clean Drinking Water: Regular distribution of drinking water by tankers in 250 regions every day

Housing: Providing support for the housing problems of 100 thousand families

Refugees: Assisting 20 thousand refugees

Health: Providing mobile health service, support to hospitals and clinics for the treatment of the injured

Dialysis Centers: Finding solutions to the needs of existing dialysis centers

Fighting Dengue Fever: (Dengue Fever) Fighting infection caused by the dengue virus (broken bone fever)

Orphan: Providing financial support to 25 thousand orphan families

Development: It was aimed to provide development assistance to 3 thousand 150 villages.

These listed concrete goals will be taken to the final point in the light of a commission to be established and a calendar to be determined.

Konferans boyunca yapılan fikir teatileri ve tartışmalar Yemen’in bugününe çare olmaktan öte gelecekteki sorunlarına çözümler üretmek gibi neşter hükmünde kalıcı ve somut hedefler temelinde ilerledi. Yapılan bağış oturumlarının yanı sıra, açık arttırma töreniyle bağış yapan zanaat erbabı ve sanatçıların çalışmalarının satışa sunulması yoluyla birçok kanaldan bağış toplama imkanına kavuşuldu.

As a result of well-intentioned and organized efforts, 190 million USD cash aid commitment was reached. With this fund, core studies can be implemented for the future of Yemen.

As per the road map, it was decided not to be satisfied with just aid to Yemen and to continue the work by agreeing on the aim of implementing development projects through studies to be carried out after the conference and commissions to be established.