On International Children's Day: highlighting the suffering of children in Yemen

On #International_Children_Day: 11 million children in #Yemen do not go to school.

A Yemeni child carries war debris

Human Rights Watch urged Yemen's conflict parties and the international community to act together to bring justice to Yemeni children and allow them to live in dignity. This was said in a statement issued by the organization on International Children's Day.

According to the statement, all parties to the Yemeni conflict are implicated in causing children pain, suffering, and different abuses. Yemeni children have been subjected to indiscriminate ground strikes, drone attacks, sniping, the deployment of land mines, sexual violence, recruitment and employment as troops, and the denial of humanitarian relief. In addition, the violence left 11 million children in need of humanitarian assistance. More than 2 million Yemeni children are unable to attend school. According to the World Bank, almost one-third of Yemen's educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed.

According to the organization, the continuing violations in Yemen are attributable to the lack of an international accountability framework that deters conflict parties from violating. As a result, the group made many recommendations, including immediately ceasing all violations, emphasizing child protection in ongoing peace talks, removing impunity, and guaranteeing that all children are registered in schools.

According to a Security Council study, last year alone saw 1,596 crimes against children in Yemen, including the recruitment and exploitation of more than 100 children, the majority of whom were used by the Houthis. There were also 544 youngsters slain. According to Save the Children, the number of children killed by landmines and explosives has surged eightfold between 2018 and 2022.

It is worth noting that the signing of the truce in Yemen resulted in a 40% reduction in violations in 2022. The Security Council report, however, emphasizes that monitoring and verifying major infractions remains challenging, which has resulted in such violations not being reported.