PRESS RELEASE
8 children killed and injured over past week as violence continues to spiral in Yemen
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder has recently returned from Yemen and is available for interview
Multimedia materials available here
NEW YORK/DUBLIN, 3 November 2021 – At least 8 children have reportedly been killed or injured in escalating violence in Yemen in the past five days, UNICEF said today, as the conflict continues to take a deadly toll on children and families.
More than 10,000 children have been killed or maimed since the escalation of the conflict in March 2015 – the equivalent of four children every day. As these are just the incidents that the United Nations has been able to verify, the true figure is likely far higher. Eleven children have been killed or maimed in Marib in the past month alone.
“Whenever the conflict in Yemen flares and violence escalates, children are the ones who pay the heaviest price,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Families are being torn apart by horrific violence. Children cannot and must not continue to be the victims of this conflict.”
Attacks on civilians – including children – and on civilian objects can violate international humanitarian law. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children, and stop attacks on civilian infrastructure and in densely populated areas.
This latest surge in violence exacerbates an already desperate situation for children and families. An estimated 1.7 million children are internally displaced. More than 2 million children are out of school. Nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition. Around 8.5 million children do not have access to safe water, sanitation, or hygiene.
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Notes to editors:
Multimedia materials from Yemen are available here
Download photos, video and b-roll from James Elder’s visit to Yemen here
Background numbers:
- 4 out of every 5 children need humanitarian assistance. That’s more than 11 million children.
- 400,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition
- More than two million children are out-of-school. Another four million are at risk of dropping out.
- Two thirds of teachers – more than 170,000 – have not received a regular salary for more than four years.
- 7 million children are now internally displaced because of the violence. As violence intensifies, particularly around Marib, more families are fleeing their homes.
- A staggering 15 million people (more than half of whom are children – 8.5m) do not have access to safe water, sanitation, or hygiene.
UNICEF is:
- supporting the treatment of severe acute malnutrition in 4,000 primary health care facilities and 130 therapeutic feeding centres;
- providing emergency cash transfers to 1.5 million households every quarter — benefitting around 9 million people;
- providing safe drinking water to more than 5 million people;
- responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the delivery of COVID vaccines through the COVAX initiative;
- providing psychosocial support, mine risk education and direct assistance for the most vulnerable children, including those who have survived war injuries;
- training and deploying thousands of community health workers;
- helping 620,000 children to access formal and non-formal education; and providing vaccines – including a polio campaign that reached more than five million children.
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone
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For more information, please contact:
Danny Smits, danny@unicef.ie | +353 87 1308070
