Nearly 1,200 children killed or injured in Yemen despite truce: NGO 

Shelling, gunfire, landmines and other explosive remnants of war have killed or injured nearly 1,200 children in Yemen, Save the Children has found, despite a United Nations-led ceasefire four years ago largely reducing hostilities.

Since the truce brokered on April 2, 2022, at least 339 children have been killed and 843 injured, some in life-altering ways, the United Kingdom-based humanitarian organisation said in an analysis of data from the Civilian Impact Monitoring Project (CIMP) released on Thursday.

The organisation also found that 511 – nearly one in two – child casualties were due to landmines and explosive remnants of war.

The data collected by CIMP, a monitoring mechanism under the UN Protection Cluster, suggested that children were more than three times more likely than adults to be killed or injured by explosive remnants.

While civilian casualties have decreased overall since the truce largely halted fighting between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Houthis, the percentage of children killed or injured due to landmines or unexploded ordnance has been much higher than in the four years prior.

Save the Children attributed this to a lack of mine risk awareness and increased exposure due to child labour.

“These figures are a reminder that beyond the front lines, the war on children continues in their homes, schools and areas where they play and help their families tend to land,” Rishana Haniffa, the organisation’s country director in Yemen, said in a statement.

“Amid escalating wider regional tensions, there is a real risk of triggering a wider confrontation in Yemen and the Red Sea that could undermine hard-won progress to reduce armed violence in the country in the past four years, exposing children to even more harm.”

Yemen’s Houthis have launched missile attacks on Israel in coordination with Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, warning they are ready to escalate further if Israel continues its strikes across the region.

Their threat to join the war marks a significant escalation in the US-Israel war on Iran. There are fears that the Iran-aligned group could attack shipping in the Red Sea, as it has done before, further disrupting global trade, already affected by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of US-Israeli strikes.

Blast injuries have at times led to permanent disabilities in children, including injuries to the spine, amputation of limbs and loss of sight and hearing.

This caused them significant psychological distress, difficulty sleeping, daily fear and anxiety.

Fifty-year-old Ahmad said his son Kamal underwent life-changing surgery. Save the Children changed their names and withheld some of their personal details to protect their privacy.

Ahmad said his family witnessed an explosion within the perimeter of their house. “I felt shocked and extremely afraid as the explosion happened inside our home. At that moment, everyone in the house was terrified,” he said.

“After the incident, Kamal began suffering from intense fear. He still wakes up frightened during sleep since the accident.”

Ahmad added that his son “sleeps most of the time”.

“When I see him in this condition, I worry about him,” he said. “Since the incident, everyone in the house has been afraid.”