Children are paying an unacceptable price, and the ever mounting death toll tragically underscores the need for urgent action to protect them and other civilians, said United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed ConflictLeila Zerrouguion Tuesday.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
Displaced children play in a room in a school, where they are living with their family following Saudi airstrikes, in the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, May 14, 2015. (AP)[/caption]Yemen has become another stark example of how conflict in the region risks creating a lost generation of children, who are physically and psychologically scarred by their experiences, deprived of educational opportunities, and who face an uncertain future, she added.
The UN official also lashed out at the Saudi regime for targeting civilians in its 21 August airstrikes on the southwesternYemeni provinceofTa'izz, which claimed the lives of 65 civilians, including at least 17 children.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui[/caption]Parties to conflict must abide by their international legal obligations to distinguish between civilian and military objects, and take precautions to avoid and minimize civilian casualties,Zerrougui underscored.
She also voiced concern over the educational situation of children in the war-ravaged Arab state as the new school year is about to kick off.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
Yemeni children play at a school, currently turned into a shelter, in the capital city of Sanaa on August 19, 2015. (AFP)[/caption]As the start of a new school year approaches, the conflict is severely curtailing childrens access to education,Zerrougui warned.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 114 schools have been completely destroyed and 315 others partially damaged in Yemen since the beginning of Riyadhs military campaign in late March. This is while some 360 schools have turned into refuges for the families who have fled their homes as a result of the deadly conflict.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="555"]
Yemeni children carry boxes of humanitarian aid donated by UNICEF in Sirwah, west of Ma'rib province, May 11, 2015. (AFP)[/caption]On March 26, Saudi Arabia began its military aggression against Yemen without a UN mandate in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunchally of Riyadh.
The conflict has so far left about 4,500 people, including402 children, deadand thousands ofothers wounded, the UN says.
By Press TV
