“These sanctions have to make clear that they do not apply to humanitarian aid”

The United States government has moved to designate Ansar Allah, the Yemeni group that controls Sana’a, the largest city in Yemen, and much of the country, as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. This means that sanctions will be applied to stop people and companies working with them or the institutions they control. Marc Schakal, MSF’s programme manager for Yemen, explains what the risks are for aid to Yemen – and the Yemeni people – if there is not a broad exemption for allowing humanitarian work to continue under these sanctions.

We are calling on the US government to immediately grant the broadest possible exemptions for humanitarian activities so as to lessen some of the expected consequences of the sanctions.
Marc Schakal, MSF’s programme manager for Yemen