AMN
The UN slammed today the devastating impact of Yemen’s three-year conflict on children, with some 2,200 minors killed, and many more going hungry, forced to fight or dying from preventable diseases.
Nearly 10,000 people have died since a Saudi-led military coalition began fighting in Yemen in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government to power after Iran-linked Huthi rebels took over Sanaa the year before.
UNICEF said today that at least 2,200 children had been killed and 3,400 others injured. Henrietta Fore, the executive director, of the UN children’s agency said, Children make up half of some 22 million people in Yemen who rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
Fore pointed out to journalists in Geneva that millions of children were out of school and many were being forced to fight with different sides in the conflict.
Others were being married off, going hungry and dying from preventable diseases like cholera.
She called for all parties to the conflict and those with influence to rally behind efforts by the UN envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths to negotiate an end to the fighting in Hodeida and to relaunch peace talks for all of Yemen.