UN: More than 11,000 children killed in Yemen

Unicef says it needs 460 million euros to fight the humanitarian crisis. The ceasefire signed in April expired at the beginning of October

More than 11,000 children have been killed, maimed or injured in Yemen since the country’s civil war escalated nearly eight years ago, according to the United Nations. “The actual number of victims of this conflict is probably much higher,” the children’s charity Unicef said Monday.

Thousands of children have lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more are at risk of death from preventable diseases or hunger, Unicef Director Catherine Russell said. About 2.2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished, one in four is under the age of five, and most are at risk of cholera, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the U.N. agency. Nearly 4,000 boys have also been recruited to fight as child soldiers in the war since 2015, it said.

Ceasefire expired
An earlier U.N. tally had spoken of more than 10,200 children killed, injured or maimed. “For children in Yemen to have even the slightest chance of a decent future, the parties to the conflict, the international community and all those with influence must ensure that they are protected and supported,” Russel said, adding that Unicef “urgently” needs $484.4 million (about 460 million euros) to respond to the humanitarian crisis. Some 380,000 people have already been killed since the conflict began, according to U.N. figures, most of them dying from the indirect effects of the fighting. Millions more have been forced to flee. The UN classifies the war and its consequences in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.