Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: Save the Children
Save the Children reports another air strike in Yemen is has killed nine people in Al Jawf governorate, including four children. This attack comes just three days after an air raid that, according to local authorities, killed six children and two women, bringing the total number of civilians killed in the last four days to 17, including 10 children.
Xavier Joubert, Save the Children’s country director in Yemen, said: “We are horrified by the news that the majority of those killed over these days have been children. Yemeni children are paying with their lives in a war they have no part in, leaving families torn apart while the airstrikes continue to indiscriminately target civilians. It is simply inexplicable that at a time the country should focus on fighting the coronavirus outbreak, the number of airstrikes is actually rising.”
The attacks during July continue an escalation in the violence in Yemen that saw the number of civilian casualties treble from May to June, according to the Yemen Data Project. In the first six months of 2020, there was a 139% increase in bombing rates by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition, compared to the last six months of 2019.
The escalation in violence in recent weeks comes after the UN Secretary-General failed to list the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition in their Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, for all the grave violations the coalition committed against children in Yemen in 2019.
Mr Joubert added: “These attacks not only threaten children’s lives directly, but also the lifesaving humanitarian work and efforts to battle the coronavirus outbreak which many health workers say is spreading out of control amid minimal testing. We call on all sides and the international community to urgently de-escalate the conflict and work towards a political solution for what is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.”
Save the Children New Zealand is extremely concerned that the conflict continues to take the lives of innocent children and backs calls for an immediate ceasefire. Heidi Coetzee, Chief Executive for Save the Children New Zealand, says, “Although Yemen feels a long way from New Zealand, we are very concerned for the plight of Yemeni children, and while we are on the other side of the world we can raise desperately needed funds to give these children a chance at life.”
About Save the Children NZ:
Save the Children works in 120 countries across the world. The organisation responds to emergencies and works with children and their communities to ensure they survive, learn and are protected.
Save the Children NZ currently supports international programmes in Fiji, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Laos, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mozambique. Areas of work include education and literacy, disaster risk reduction, and alleviating child poverty.
