65,000 Houthi Violations Against Yemeni Children in 17 Provinces

Local and international human rights organizations have accused Yemen’s Houthi militias of committing 65,000 violations against the country’s children since the end of 2014.

The organizations said in reports that the violations included killing children, recruiting them and depriving them of education.

The Yemeni Network for Human Rights and Freedoms, in collaboration with 13 international organizations, has monitored 65,971 violations against children in 17 Yemeni provinces between January 1, 2015 and August 30, 2019.

It said in a statement that the insurgents have killed 3,888, injured 5,357 and inflicted permanent disabilities on 164 children through indiscriminate shelling on densely populated neighborhoods.

The militias have abducted 456 children, who remain in Houthi-run prisons, and caused the displacement of 43,608 others, the statement said, adding that the group had recruited about 12,341 child soldiers.

The network urged the international community to break its silence and “take serious action to stop these violations against children.”

Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ibtihaj al-Kamal also called on international organizations dealing with children’s welfare to back the Yemeni government in adopting plans that support children and rehabilitate them.

Kamal said in a statement that “4.5 million Yemeni children have been deprived of education since the Houthi militias led a coup late 2014.”

She accused the insurgents of shelling schools and turning them into military barracks, sending children to battlefronts and adopting curricula that encourage hatred and threaten the social fabric.

According to Kamal, two out of three million Yemeni children, born since the war launched by the militias on the people, suffer from health problems, and many of them have died after failing to receive the appropriate vaccination or treatment in areas falling under the control of insurgents.

Children have also fallen victim to landmines planted randomly by the Houthis in residential areas and on roadsides.