Renewed hostilities across Yemen are forcing families from their homes, killing and injuring children and disrupting access to health care and education, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis, UNICEF warned today.
More than 104,000 people, including over 57,000 children, have been displaced in just two weeks. Since 3 September, at least nine children have been reported killed and 12 injured, while three other children are reported missing following an attack on the road from Yemen's western coast to Aden.
The fighting across western Taiz, southern Hudaydah, Marib and other affected areas is cutting children off from essential services. Twenty-six UNICEF-supported health facilities have had services disrupted, while 243 schools have closed or had suspended learning, affecting more than 137,000 students.
UNICEF is expanding its emergency response to reach up to 231,000 people affected by the escalation. Assistance is already underway, with support to health facilities, hygiene kits and water tanks distributed in Taiz, additional water and hygiene supplies provided in Marib, and nine health and nutrition mobile teams redeployed to displacement sites and affected communities in Aden, Marib and Taiz. Emergency water and sanitation support aims to reach more than 200,000 people with safe water, hygiene supplies and urgent repairs to damaged systems.
Child protection teams are providing psychosocial care and case management, including for unaccompanied and separated children, and helping communities reduce the risks posed by explosive ordnance.
"Children in Yemen were already living through one of the world's most grave humanitarian crises, and many have known little but conflict and displacement," said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. "Now, tens of thousands of families have been forced from their homes in just two weeks, many fleeing only with what they can carry. For children who have already endured years of hunger, displacement and disrupted schooling, this latest violence is eroding what little stability they had left."
The impact of the escalation is also being felt across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. More than 2,000 people, including many children, have arrived in Djibouti after a dangerous crossing marked by extreme heat, dehydration and protection risks. UNICEF is working with authorities to support newly arrived families with safe water, hygiene and sanitation services, child protection support and referrals for the most vulnerable children.
Even before the latest escalation, an estimated 12.2 million children in Yemen needed humanitarian assistance. More than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including over 515,000 children with severe acute malnutrition, while 3.2 million school-aged children are out of school. Around 17.8 million people lack adequate access to healthcare, water and sanitation services, with only 60 per cent of health facilities fully functional.
UNICEF reiterates the call of the Secretary-General for all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, including children, comply with international humanitarian law, and facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access so that urgently needed assistance can reach communities in need.
