The boy died in hospital on Monday morning and his two-year-old cousin lost his leg after a shell hit their home in Taiz on Sunday afternoon. Three other children were walking back from school when a second shell hit an alley. Two of the children lost legs while the third child was in a critical condition due to shrapnel in his abdomen, leg and hand.
The number of war-related child deaths in Yemen has jumped to 11 in October from zero in September following the ending of a six-month truce on Oct. 2. The UN-led peace agreement had led to the longest period of relative peace since conflict erupted in Yemen in 2015.
Save the Children’s Country Director for Yemen, Rama Hansraj, said:
“I am appalled by yet another reckless act of armed violence impacting children in Taiz. In October, our team in Taiz responded to12 cases of child injuries, and almost half of them lost limbs from landmines and other explosive weapons.
“It was encouraging to see that child casualties dropped significantly during the six-month truce. However, we are now seeing first-hand how conflict parties' failure to resolve the conflict translates into child suffering.
“In the absence of an accountability mechanism, incidents like these have continued to occur on an ongoing and alarming basis. Impunity is part of the reason why the conflict is still raging. The effort to put an end to it is not just about principles; it is a moral and political imperative, as well as a matter of protection and safety for millions of Yemenis."
This shelling attack comes one year after the United Nations Human Rights Council’s decision to reject the renewal of the only international independent accountability mechanism in Yemen. Save the Children urges parties to the conflict to recommit to a process to bring about peace and for the international community to address increasing impunity and lack of justice for the victims by re-establishing an international, independent, and impartial accountability mechanism.
Save the Children has been working in Yemen since 1963, implementing programmes in education, child protection, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, and emergency response across most of the country. Save the Children has responded to the incident through its child protection unit covering the medical costs of all cases and providing psychosocial support to victims and their families.
ENDS
MEDIA CONTACT: Mala Darmadi on 0425562113 or media.team@savethechildren.org.au.