Over 500 Yemeni Children Killed in Saudi-led Airstrikes: UNICEF
Since March, Saudi Arabia and its allies have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis to restore ousted president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power. Six months of violence have left at least 505 children dead and702 injured.
With UNICEF projecting that some 1.2 million children under five in Yemen will have suffered from “moderate” acute malnutrition across 2015, a further 530,000 children are at risk of “severe” malnutrition – a five time increase compared to data from before the conflict.
The dire situation is caused by the fighting disrupting imports to Yemen, which only produces 10 percent of the food required by the population. In total around 10 million children, composing 80 percent of the country’s under-18 population, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the agency said on Friday.
“With every day that passes, children see their hopes and dreams for the future shattered. Their homes, schools and communities are being destroyed, and their own lives are increasingly threatened by disease and malnutrition,” said Julien Harneis, the UNICEF representative in Yemen.
However, UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac stressed that “these are conservative figures.”
The education of over 1.8 million children has been interrupted by school closures, with 41 attacks on schools verified since the start of the conflict, UNICEF said.
At least 2,355 civilians have been killed in Yemen over the last six month, with 1.4 million people fleeing their homes, according to UN estimates.
Source: RT
https://www.rt.com/news/317473-yemen-children-deaths-malnutrition/
