Yemen's children increasingly vulnerable as war drags on

ADEN -- Umm Malak, a mother of seven whose husband is imprisoned by the Iran-backed Houthis, said she has decided not to enroll her children in school amid the difficult conditions her family faces as a result of their displacement.

Umm Malak said she was displaced from al-Hodeidah earlier this year, and made her way to Sanaa.

The ongoing war leaves her no energy to think about her children's schooling, she told Al-Mashareq, adding that finding shelter and enough food for her family is the critical challenge she faces these days.

Her daughter, 9-year-old Malak, said she spends her time with her mother beside the road "to seek alms from passers-by and benevolent people".

But she wishes she could go to school like other children.

"Whenever I think about my imprisoned father and our difficult living circumstances, I tell myself that at least my siblings and I have survived and are waiting for my father's release from the Houthi prison," she said.

According to the Executive Unit for the Displaced in Yemen, 49,227 individuals were internally displaced in Yemen between January 1 and November 30.

The majority of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are children, said unit director Najeeb al-Saadi.

Children the main victims

The rights of Yemen's children -- life, education, health and physical safety -- are under threat amid the ongoing war ignited by the Houthis, experts said.

More than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed since the war began, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said December 12.

"The true toll of this conflict is likely to be far higher," UNICEF said.

"Thousands of children have lost their lives; hundreds of thousands more remain at risk of death from preventable disease or starvation," said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.

About 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, one quarter of them aged under five, and most are at extreme risk from cholera, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, UNICEF said.

Hundreds of thousands have died amid the war, either as a result of fighting or indirectly through unsafe drinking water, disease outbreaks, hunger and other impacts, AFP reported.

UNICEF has recorded 3,774 child deaths between March 2015 and September 2022, with at least 62 children killed or wounded since October 2, when the truce between the warring parties expired and was not renewed.

The UN agency also said 3,904 boys had been recruited into the fighting over the years, and that more than 90 girls had been given roles, including working at checkpoints.

Conditions significantly worsen

"Yemen tops the list of the 10 worst countries embroiled in conflict in terms of violations recorded against children during 2021," Save the Children said November 30.

The National Committee to Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights said it has recorded more than 3,609 cases of 40 types of violations of children's rights in all Yemeni provinces between July 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022.

The committee said 266 children were killed when the Houthis targeted civilians in their attacks, and 47 other children were killed in Houthi land mine explosions.

Committee spokeswoman Ishraq al-Maqtari told Al-Mashareq that conditions have significantly worsened for Yemeni children.

Their mental and physical health is under threat, she said, with mine explosions on the roads to schools "a daily occurrence, especially in rural areas, where statistics indicate casualties in 13 provinces".

Al-Maqtari said 3,000 Yemeni schools are deemed unfit for children's education.

Many children miss their parents who are in Houthi prisons, she said, adding that displaced children constitute the largest segment of Yemen's four million IDPs.

"The children's needs must be taken into account in IDP camps because their conditions are difficult, especially with the onset of winter," al-Maqtari said.

The Houthis have frequently and gravely violated the rights of children, who are the main victims of the conflict in areas the group controls, Deputy Minister of Justice Faisal al-Majeedi told Al-Mashareq.

International reports point to "the Houthi army of children", he said, with some estimates indicating there are 40,000 recruited child soldiers ... both male and female, among the Houthis".

'Least protected group'

Children "are the most vulnerable and the least protected group in Yemen because of the absence of protective institutions", lawyer and human rights activist Abdul Rahman Berman told Al-Mashareq.

Many families are displaced, and many parents have been imprisoned or killed, he said, which makes children more vulnerable to various violations.

These include exposure to shelling, sniper fire or land mines, as well as to the Houthis' recruitment efforts, with many child soldiers killed in conflict, he said.

Meanwhile, he added, many are unable to register or attend school amid the war and as a result of their displacement.

A number of schools in Houthi-controlled areas are being used as "weapon depots, and some have been turned into security headquarters", said Berman.

In a report on Hajjah province, the American Centre for Justice documented the recruitment of 6,000 children by the Houthis, 700 of whom were killed in conflict, Berman said.

Actual figures are likely much higher, he said.

UNICEF on December 13 appealed for $2.6 billion from international donors to fund life-saving aid across the Middle East and North Africa to "deliver lifesaving assistance to over 52.7 million children in need" in 2023.

Conflict in Yemen has created what the UN has dubbed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with almost every child in the country dependent on some form of assistance.