22 Human Rights Organizations Call for the Protection of Yemeni Children from Violence and Recruitment
Yemen Monitor/Newsroom:
Twenty-two human rights organizations have called for urgent action to protect children in Yemen and ensure their future, affirming that they are suffering from violence, recruitment, sexual violence, and deprivation of aid.
In a statement on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day, which falls on November 20, the organizations explained that thousands of children have fallen victim during a decade of war, in addition to grave violations committed against them.
The statement stressed the need to establish mechanisms for international accountability; implement a comprehensive plan to re-enroll out-of-school children, calling on the Houthis to stop their disinformation campaign against vaccines and facilitate unhindered access to basic services for children.
The statement added: “Parties to the conflict, especially the Houthi group, must immediately halt all violations against children, including killing and maiming, recruitment, sexual violence, abduction, and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
The organizations called for refraining from attacks on medical and educational facilities and using them for military purposes.
They urged the parties to the conflict, the United Nations, and the international community to prioritize the protection of children in future peace talks, to ensure justice and accountability, and to involve local civil society organizations and victims of violations in those talks.
The organizations stressed the need to curb the prevalence of impunity and recommended that the international community not allow the politicization of the human rights file in Yemen, “and it must move to establish an international team to investigate and collect evidence and monitor all human rights violations in Yemen, including grave violations against children, to ensure accountability.”
The organizations called on the Yemeni government and the United Nations to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure the return of all currently out-of-school children, including the marginalized and vulnerable, and to prioritize the protection and rehabilitation of schools.
They also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to address the crisis of reducing food aid, which will harm millions of Yemeni children and their families.
According to research conducted by the Yemeni Alliance for Monitoring Human Rights Violations, (283) cases of grave violations against children were recorded between February and September 2024. These violations included recruitment (85 cases), killing and maiming (75 cases), attacks on schools and hospitals (45 cases), kidnapping (24 cases), sexual violence (14 cases), and denial of humanitarian access (7 cases(.
These figures do not reflect the real situation, as according to the report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations verified (809) grave violations against (666) children in 2023 alone. UNICEF reported that in just nine years, more than 11,500 children were killed or injured for reasons related to the conflict, including the killing of 3,900 children and the injury of 7,600.
