Sana’a, 15 April 2015: Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection warned of a humanitarian catastrophe facing more than five million children in Yemen, including nearly one million infants, as a result of war and blockade.
The organization said the humanitarian situation for most Yemenis had reached an unbearable level because food, medicine, and fuel had been cut off from entering the country for nearly three weeks, while electricity and water stations had stopped or been targeted and air and sea movement had been disrupted.
Seyaj appealed to the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, the countries participating in the military operations, and the wider international community to take immediate action to ensure the entry of food, medicine, and energy supplies, alongside urgent humanitarian relief for the hardest-hit areas such as Aden.
The organization said children are the group most exposed to death because of war and the acute shortage of milk, food, clean water, and medicine. It also cited information from its Monitoring and Protection Center showing that millions of children had been deprived of education, hundreds of schools had been damaged or militarized, and large numbers of families had been displaced.
Seyaj called on all parties to the conflict to avoid targeting civilians, to refrain from using residential neighborhoods and civilian facilities for military purposes, and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. It also called on the coalition forces to comply with the laws of war and avoid bombing populated and civilian areas.
