More than 11,000 children have now been killed or maimed as a result of the conflict in Yemen, according to UNICEF – an average of four a day since the escalation of the conflict in 2015. As these are only the UN-verified incidents, the true toll of this conflict is likely to be far higher.
While the UN-brokered truce led to a significant reduction in the intensity of the conflict, a further 62 children have been killed or injured between the end of the truce at the start of October and the end of November. At least 74 children were among the 164 people killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance between July and September 2022 alone.
Almost eight years since the escalation of the conflict, more than 23.4 million people, including 12.9 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection – almost three-quarters of the entire population. An estimated 2.2 million children in Yemen are acutely malnourished, including nearly 540,000 children under the age of five suffering from severe acute malnutrition and are struggling to survive.
More than 17.8 million people, including 9.2 million children, lack access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. For years, the country’s health system has been extremely fragile: only 50 per cent of health facilities are functional, leaving almost 22 million people – including around 10 million children – without adequate access to healthcare.