3 November 2026
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) briefed journalists in Geneva on the condition of women and girls caught in Yemen's renewed fighting. Francesco Galtieri, the UNFPA Representative in Yemen, spoke by video link from Aden. He said nearly 300,000 people have been displaced from the west coast and from Taiz, a threefold rise, and that more than half of them are women and children. More than a third of displaced families are headed by a woman. Taiz holds more than 13,000 pregnant women, about 6,400 of them displaced, and UNFPA expects roughly 1,500 obstetric emergencies among the displaced. Across Taiz only 5 of 27 designated emergency maternal and newborn hospitals are partly working. At the Swedish Motherhood and Childhood Hospital in Taiz, incubators for premature babies have dropped from 40 to 10 because of fuel shortages. UNFPA says 129 community midwives and five mobile teams are still reaching women where access allows.
Agency:
UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
UNFPA Representative in Yemen:
Francesco Galtieri
People displaced:
Nearly 300,000
Working emergency maternity hospitals in Taiz:
5 of 27
Pregnant women in Taiz:
More than 13,000
Why it matters for exams: UNFPA expands to United Nations Population Fund, and its Representative in Yemen is Francesco Galtieri.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund — The UN agency for reproductive health, maternal care and population data.
30 October 2026
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said more than 280,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Yemen and that aid teams often cannot reach them. Matthew Saltmarsh, a UNHCR spokesperson, said many displaced families cannot reach the agency's supplies and in many cases it is too dangerous for staff to reach them. Yemen also hosts more than 65,000 refugees and asylum seekers, about 9,500 of whom shelter at Kharaz camp in Lahj governorate in the south-west, close to the front line. At Kharaz, food, health care and water services continue with difficulty while schools, legal services and documentation work are suspended. Thousands of people still make dangerous sea crossings from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. UNHCR's Yemen appeal is only 19 per cent funded. The agency linked rising needs to supply chain disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, and said 11 containers of relief from Dubai, carrying 3,000 kits for over 20,000 people, were due to arrive.
Agency:
UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency)
People displaced:
More than 280,000
Refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen:
More than 65,000
Kharaz camp governorate:
Lahj
Yemen appeal funded:
19 per cent
Why it matters for exams: UNHCR is the UN Refugee Agency, and Kharaz refugee camp lies in Yemen's Lahj governorate.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — The UN Refugee Agency, which protects refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people.
20 October 2026
UN agencies briefing in Geneva said more than 250,000 people have fled the renewed fighting in Yemen, with about half of them sheltering in Taiz. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the closure of the only supply route linking Taiz to Aden puts civilians at grave risk, and his office confirmed 32 civilians killed across Taiz governorate, including 14 children and nine women. Akhil Iyer, the UNICEF Representative in Yemen, briefed from Aden and called Taiz the number one concern, with clean water almost non-existent for new arrivals and sanitation services halted. WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said 12 hospitals in Taiz had about four days of fuel left and that 115 of 127 essential medicines had stock for a week or less. UNICEF said ten of Taiz's 16 districts are already at emergency levels of food insecurity, and WFP said wheat flour stocks in the affected areas are nearly exhausted. Yemen is also facing cholera and measles outbreaks along with suspected diphtheria and dengue.
People displaced:
More than 250,000
Civilians confirmed killed in Taiz governorate:
32, including 14 children and nine women
UNICEF Representative in Yemen:
Akhil Iyer
Essential medicines near exhaustion:
115 of 127
Taiz districts at emergency food insecurity:
10 of 16
Why it matters for exams: Akhil Iyer is the UNICEF Representative in Yemen, and Taiz's only supply route links it to the port city of Aden.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund — The UN agency for children's health, nutrition, water and education.
14 October 2026
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that fighting in Yemen has cut off life-saving aid to 800,000 people. El-Khidir Daloum, the WFP Country Director in Yemen, said the agency cannot reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz, including over 200,000 women and children, and that the situation can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if aid cannot move safely. More than 18 million people in Yemen face acute food insecurity, and 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 with severe acute malnutrition. Nearly 75 per cent of households in areas WFP can still reach could not meet basic food needs. Ten of Taiz's 16 districts are at emergency levels, and wheat flour stocks there are nearly used up. WFP said 37 of its staff are among 72 UN personnel held by the Houthi de facto authorities. The agency needs 268 million dollars to keep its Yemen operation running through 2027.
Agency:
WFP (World Food Programme)
WFP Country Director in Yemen:
El-Khidir Daloum
People facing acute food insecurity:
More than 18 million
Children under five acutely malnourished:
2.2 million
Funds sought through 2027:
268 million dollars
Why it matters for exams: WFP is the World Food Programme and its Country Director in Yemen is El-Khidir Daloum.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
WFP World Food Programme — The UN's food assistance agency, which delivers emergency food aid worldwide.
10 October 2026
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned a Houthi strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the third attack on the airport that week. He said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international law and that these attacks must cease immediately. Saudi authorities said 12 people were killed, and the kingdom's civil aviation authority put the number wounded at 309, some of them critically. The dead included Saudi, Bangladeshi, United States, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Palestinian and Sudanese nationals. Saudi authorities later said another projectile hit a passenger terminal and started a fire. Houthi media said Sana'a airport was struck the next day. Mohamed Yahya, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said more than 200,000 people in Yemen had been displaced since August, and Hans Grundberg, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, had told the Security Council the country had slid back into full-scale war.
Airport struck:
King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh
People killed:
12
People wounded:
309
UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
Mohamed Yahya
Displaced in Yemen since August:
More than 200,000
Why it matters for exams: King Khalid International Airport serves Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and the condemnation came from the UN Secretary-General.
Kerala PSCUPSC
5 October 2026
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that more than 184,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the start of August, most of them since early September. About 21,800 people were displaced at least once in the week to 3 October, a 26 per cent rise on the week before, and 6,474 people moved on 4 October alone. At three displacement sites in Ma'rib, about 45 per cent of the households assessed had been displaced before and had lost assets and livelihoods. Amy Pope, the Director General of IOM, called on the international community to secure humanitarian access. The World Health Organization's latest situation report counted more than 5,100 casualties since 6 August, including 959 deaths, with cholera cases tripling in three weeks and measles spreading. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said 72 UN personnel and five former UN personnel remain detained and that the UN will pursue every possible avenue to free them.
Agency tracking displacement:
IOM
Director General of IOM:
Amy Pope
Displaced since start of August:
More than 184,000
Casualties since 6 August (WHO):
More than 5,100, including 959 deaths
UN personnel detained:
72
Why it matters for exams: IOM stands for the International Organization for Migration and its Director General is Amy Pope.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IOM International Organization for Migration — The UN agency that works on migration and tracks displacement through its matrix surveys.
2 November 2026
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported a sharper deterioration in Yemen, with the south-western city of Taiz worst placed. Iran-backed Houthi forces have ringed the city, fighting has shut every road into it, and commercial goods are no longer arriving. Because supplies cannot get in, close to 250,000 residents no longer have essential health care. Among them OCHA counts 23,000 pregnant women and upwards of 186,000 children below the age of five. Twelve hospitals may have to shut their doors while the need for treatment keeps climbing. In one week alone health workers logged over 1,400 cases of acute diarrhoea and suspected cholera. Cholera is carried mainly by contaminated water.
Reporting office:
OCHA
City encircled:
Taiz, south-western Yemen
People without essential healthcare:
Nearly a quarter of a million
Children under five affected:
More than 186,000
Hospitals at risk of closing:
Twelve
Why it matters for exams: OCHA expands to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN office that coordinates relief and issues these figures.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — The UN office that coordinates emergency relief and publishes humanitarian needs figures.
9 October 2026
Hans Grundberg, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, told the UN Security Council that the country has slipped back into full-scale war between Houthi forces and the internationally recognised government. Civilians, women and children among them, are carrying the heaviest cost, he said, and the moment to weigh political options is now, unless war is to become Yemen's permanent condition. Gains on the battlefield, he argued, are no substitute for talks, and he asked Council members to back mediation. He also described the security of the region, the freedom to navigate and keeping world trade safe as concerns that are legitimate. Figures placed before the Council show at least 46 civilians killed and more than 130 hurt since August, with children bearing a disproportionate share. Abdullah Ali Fadhel al-Saadi, Yemen's representative at the UN, said the Houthi threat has ceased to be a purely internal Yemeni matter. Abdulaziz al-Wasil, representing Saudi Arabia, described the situation as a dangerous escalation.
UN Special Envoy to Yemen:
Hans Grundberg
Body briefed:
UN Security Council
Civilians killed since August:
At least 46
Yemen's representative to the UN:
Abdullah Ali Fadhel al-Saadi
Saudi Arabia's representative to the UN:
Abdulaziz al-Wasil
Why it matters for exams: Hans Grundberg holds the office of UN Special Envoy for Yemen and reports to the UN Security Council.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
The United Nations has demanded an investigation into the death of one of its own staff members detained in Yemen, which makes Yemen's long place inside the organisation worth recalling. The UN's official list of Member States gives Yemen a date of admission of 30 September 1947. That is only two years after the United Nations itself came into being, when many of its founding members were admitted in 1945. Yemen is therefore one of the organisation's older members, not a newcomer. The United Nations has 193 Member States in all. Yemen's situation is handled in the Security Council, the UN organ responsible for international peace and security, where the Special Envoy for Yemen reports. Because Yemen is a Member State, UN agencies work in the country with its government, and the Secretary-General can appoint envoys and set up missions concerning it.
Date of admission to the UN:
30-09-1947
Total UN Member States:
193
Year the UN was founded:
1945
Why it matters for exams: Yemen's date of admission to the United Nations is 30 September 1947, and the UN has 193 Member States.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
With the UN Special Envoy telling the Security Council that Yemen has returned to full-scale war, the country's standing facts are back on the exam list. Sana'a functions as Yemen's political capital, while Aden is its economic centre and the seat of the internationally recognised Government. The currency is the Yemeni rial and the official language is Arabic. Yemen lies at the south-western corner of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the east, with the Red Sea to the west and the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to the south. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at its south-western tip, separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa. The country covers 528,076 square kilometres. Its highest point is Mount Al-Nabi Shu'ayb at 3,760 metres. Socotra is its largest island, and other island groups include Kamaran, the Hanish Islands, Perim and the Brothers.
Capital:
Sana'a
Economic centre:
Aden
Currency:
Yemeni rial
Official language:
Arabic
Highest point:
Mount Al-Nabi Shu'ayb, 3,760 m
Largest island:
Socotra
Why it matters for exams: Yemen's capital is Sana'a, its currency the Yemeni rial, its highest peak Mount Al-Nabi Shu'ayb and its largest island Socotra.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
With Yemen's war back before the UN Security Council, the country's island World Heritage site is worth recalling. Britannica calls Socotra Yemen's most important and largest island. The Socotra Archipelago sits in the northwest Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden and stretches about 250 kilometres. It is made up of four islands and two rocky islets. UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List under criterion (x) for its biological diversity and threatened species. Of its 825 plant species, 37 per cent are found nowhere else on Earth. Ninety per cent of its reptile species, that is 34 species, are endemic, as are 95 per cent of its land snail species, numbering 96. The archipelago has 192 bird species, 44 of which breed on the islands, along with 253 reef-building coral species, 730 coastal fish species and 300 species of crab, lobster and shrimp. Terrestrial protected areas cover about 75 per cent of its land. UNESCO says it has been termed the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.
Site:
Socotra Archipelago, Yemen
Listed by:
UNESCO World Heritage Centre, criterion (x)
Make-up:
Four islands and two rocky islets
Length:
About 250 km
Endemic plants:
37% of 825 plant species
Nickname:
Galapagos of the Indian Ocean
Why it matters for exams: Socotra Archipelago is on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criterion (x) and has four islands and two rocky islets.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — The UN body that keeps the World Heritage List of cultural and natural sites.