UN: 11 million Yemeni children need urgent aid
The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, announced that more than 11 million children in the war-torn country of Yemen are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
"Today we can say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child," said Khairat Kaplareh, UNICEF's director for the Middle East and North Africa, in the Jordanian capital Amman on Sunday, according to AFP.
He stressed: "Today, two million children in Yemen suffer from severe malnutrition, and almost all Yemeni boys and girls" are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
"Our estimate is that a child in Yemen dies from preventable diseases every 10 minutes," said UNICEF's director for the Middle East and North Africa.
UN officials have warned that if the Saudi-led coalition's comprehensive blockade of Yemen is not lifted, Yemen could face the world's largest famine in decades.
The all-out blockade of Yemen came after the Houthis fired a missile at Riyadh airport. The port of Hodeidah, controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthis, is one of the besieged ports and was the main channel for UN aid to Yemen.
Meanwhile, a UN passenger plane carrying vaccines was allowed by the Saudi coalition on Saturday to fly from Amman to Sanaa, the Yemeni capital under the control of the Shiite Houthi movement.
On Sunday, as international pressure on the Saudi coalition increased, the first aid ship carrying 5,500 tons of flour docked at the Salif port.
UN officials insist that Hodeidah port be opened to aid ships.
"Unfortunately, the war in Yemen is a war on children," said Khairat Kaplareh, UNICEF's director for the Middle East and North Africa, at a news conference.
He added that nearly 5,000 children have been killed or seriously injured in Yemen since the start of coalition airstrikes in 2015.
"Thousands of schools and health facilities have been damaged or completely destroyed," said UNICEF's Middle East and North Africa Director. He called on all parties involved to show responsibility in the current situation.
Nearly 8,600 people have been killed in the Yemeni war so far. 2,000 people have also died from cholera.
According to UNICEF, every month, about 20,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 are added to the list of severely malnourished children.
Source: Radio Farda
