Nearly 1,000 child casualties of Yemen war in year since shocking Sa’ada bus attack – Oxfam
Oxfam Australia continues to call on the Australian Government to immediately halt arms sales to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with the news that there have been almost 1000 child casualties of the Yemen war in the past year.
More than 300 children have died in fighting across Yemen in the year since an airstrike hit a bus in Sa’ada killing 41 school children and almost 600 have been injured, as international arms sales continue to fuel the conflict.
Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said 335 children had been killed by violent attacks including airstrikes, mines and shelling since 9 August 2018, equivalent to another eight buses being hit. Many more have died from hunger and disease, according to the UN, in a massive humanitarian crisis stoked by the conflict.
“The world was rightly appalled by an attack that took the lives of so many young, innocent school children. Yet almost one child a day has been killed in the year since and violence remains a daily threat for Yemenis, alongside the struggle against hunger and disease,” Mr Siddiquey said.
“The people of Yemen urgently need a nationwide ceasefire before more lives are lost to this horrific conflict and the humanitarian disaster that it is fueling. All parties to the conflict and those with influence over them should do all in their power to end this deadly war now.”
Since the latest figures were published, more children have been killed or injured. Just last week an attack on a market killed at least 10 civilians, including children, in Sa’ada while in Taizz, five children were injured by shelling.
Airstrikes and shelling in Al Dale’e in May killed 10 children. In March, five children were killed in clashes in Taizz city while an attack on the Kushar district of Hajjah governorate killed 14 children. Over the year, there have been 30 incidents involving schools and eighteen involving hospitals.
The conflict, between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government, backed by an international coalition that includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is now in its fifth year. The United Nations has estimated that if the war continues until 2022, more than half a million people will be killed by fighting, hunger and disease.
The Houthis and the internationally recognised government of Yemen reached an agreement at talks in December, which included a ceasefire deal for the key port of Hudaydah, but moves to implement it have been long delayed.
The government and the Saudi-led coalition have accused the Houthi forces of over 5,000 violations of the Stockholm agreement, while the Houthis have in turn blamed the coalition and government forces for more than 27,000 violations.
The international community is coming under increasing pressure to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia and other members of the coalition. Oxfam Australia is also calling on the Australian Government to provide further humanitarian aid for the response.
“Seventy years after the creation of the Geneva Convention, which seeks to protect civilians in and around war zones, children in Yemen still find themselves in the firing line,” Mr Siddiquey said.
“The international community should focus on protecting the lives of Yemeni civilians and ending this war, not profiting from it through arms sales.”
