Amid the country's protracted political, security, and humanitarian crises, the United Nations envoy for Yemen, stressed the urgent need on Thursday to relaunch a comprehensive and inclusive political process to achieve a negotiated settlement to the conflict. Briefing the UN Security Council, Hans Grundberg also expressed serious concerns about the continued detention of UN staff and other personnel by the Houthi de facto authorities.
The briefing comes as 23.1 million people — half of Yemen’s population — are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yemen is experiencing one of the world's most severe hunger crises, with populations at imminent risk of catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) — the worst outlook for the country since 2022.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, over 18 million people are experiencing acute food insecurity, including 5.8 million facing emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4). This is the largest number of people facing this level of hunger globally. Additionally, 40,000 people are expected to face famine conditions (IPC Phase 5) in the coming months
Years of conflict and displacement have devastated livelihoods and severely restricted access to basic health and nutrition services. This situation has been exacerbated by a nationwide economic collapse that has reduced household purchasing power and a sharp decline in humanitarian assistance.
The conflict between the Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, and Yemen's ousted government alongside a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf countries escalated over 10 years ago, when Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against the Houthis and their affiliated forces in 2015.
The country continues to be fragmented, with multiple actors controlling different parts of Yemen. The internationally recognized government is based primarily in the southern city of Aden, while the Houthis control the capital, Sanaa, and large areas in the north and west.
Although a UN-brokered truce in April 2022 helped reduce violence, Yemen continues to face a complex crisis after more than a decade of active armed conflict.
Yemen needs sustainable political process to end the conflict
On Thursday, as the Security Council met to discuss the situation in Yemen, UN envoy Grundberg emphasized the need for a sustainable process under UN auspices to reach a negotiated settlement that can end the conflict in Yemen.
“Ultimately, stabilization in any part of the country will not be durable if the broader conflict in Yemen is not addressed comprehensively,” Grundberg told Security Council members from Riyadh.
“It is high time to take decisive steps in that regard,” he urged, warning that without a wider negotiated political settlement, gains could be lost.
He said that, in recent weeks, he has engaged with Yemeni parties, regional actors, and the international community to explore ways to restart such an inclusive political process, while consulting with diverse Yemenis. He recently met with Yemen’s newly appointed prime minister, Shaya al-Zindani.
“We must be honest about what more than a decade of war has done,” he said, noting that the conflict has grown more complex, with multiple lines of contestation and intertwined local and national dynamics.
“We need to build on what still works, revise what are outdated assumptions and be pragmatic in designing a political process for today’s reality,” he added.
“Treating political, economic and security issues in isolation can only produce partial results that will not hold,” he said.
Grundberg added that a credible process requires engaging across these tracks simultaneously and delivering for Yemenis on two-time horizons.
“It should enable near-term agreements that reduce suffering and demonstrate progress, including economic de-escalation measures. At the same time, it must create space for Yemenis to negotiate the longer-term issues essential to ending the conflict, including the future shape of the state, security arrangements and principles of governance,” he said.
At least 73 UN staff members remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthis
The UN envoy raised serious concerns about the continued detention of UN staff and other humanitarian and diplomatic staff.
“This week marks one year since our World Food Programme colleague died while held in arbitrary detention by Ansar Allah. There has been no investigation or answers on the circumstances of his death,” he said.
As of Thursday, 73 UN staff members remain detained by the Houthis, along with dozens of individuals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, and diplomatic missions.
“Many have been held incommunicado, with serious concerns about their conditions and wellbeing,” Grundberg stressed.
At the end of last month, the de facto authorities entered multiple UN offices in Sanaa without permission and commandeered equipment and vehicles.
Humanitarian crisis deepens as funding falls short
The detention of humanitarian workers is having a profound impact on aid operations, and is occurring at a time when the humanitarian situation is more desperate than ever.
“Briefing after briefing, we raise the same issues,” said Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Outreach Division at the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In 2026, 23.1 million people — half of Yemen’s population — will require assistance as the country grapples with the region's most severe hunger crisis.
“The health system is coming under increasing strain. Some 40 percent of health facilities are not functioning or at risk of closing due to funding shortfalls and our partners scaling back their operations,” Doughten said.
“This has a disproportionate impact on women and girls, as access to essential maternal and reproductive health services becomes even more restricted. This crisis is unfolding amid a rise in outbreaks of preventable disease and low immunization coverage.”
Food insecurity, limited access to healthcare, and preventable diseases are causing a dangerous rise in malnutrition, especially among children.
Yemen's nutrition crisis is one of the worst in the world. Currently, 2.5 million children under five and 1.3 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished. Nearly half of all children under five are stunted. Some 600,000 children are severely malnourished, which threatens their lives and results in mortality rates 11 times higher than those of healthy children.
Last year, the humanitarian appeal for Yemen was funded at only 28.5 percent, which forced "us to make impossible choices," Doughten said. Nevertheless, humanitarian organizations delivered food aid to over 5 million people, provided 3.3 million medical consultations, and treated over 330,000 children for severe acute malnutrition. She stressed that Yemen is at a critical juncture.
“We must act together now to prevent a return to the devastating levels of hunger and disease witnessed only a few years ago, when malnutrition and cholera overwhelmed a fragile health system and wreaked havoc on communities across the country,” she said.
The OCHA official noted that, next week in Amman, donors, UN agencies, and international and national NGOs will gather to refine aid delivery and ensure that the most vulnerable continue to receive assistance amid growing operational constraints.
Operations are being reorganized, with NGOs and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) taking on a larger operational workload. The UN will leverage its unique capacities, she said, and she urged Council members to support these efforts.
In a related development, on Thursday the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed for US$ 38.8 million to provide life-saving emergency health assistance to 10.5 million people in Yemen in 2026 as the country enters another year of worsening disease outbreaks.
Yemen continues to experience multiple concurrent disease outbreaks, including cholera, measles, dengue fever, and polio. These outbreaks are driven by low immunization coverage, unsafe water and sanitation, displacement, and limited access to healthcare. Climate-related shocks, including floods and extreme weather, are intensifying transmission risks and damaging fragile health infrastructure.
Further information
Full text: Briefing by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to the UN Security Council, February 12, 2026 
https://osesgy.unmissions.org/en/news/briefing-un-special-envoy-yemen-hans-grundberg-security-council-0
Full text: Briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen by Lisa Doughten, Director, Financing and Partnerships Division, OCHA, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, February 12, 2026 
https://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-urges-security-council-continue-efforts-secure-aid-workers-release-yemen