8 years of Saudi brutal aggression leaves behind 13,482 women and children killed/injured

The Entesaf Organization for Women and Children’s Rights reported that the number of children and women victims of the US-Saudi aggression exceeded 13,482 killed and wounded until the end of February 2023.

In a report on the violations carried out by the aggressive coalition against Yemeni children and women during the past 2900 days of war on Yemen, the organization stated that the number of women and children killed reached 6,328, including 2,440 women and3,888 children.

While the number of wounded women and children reached 7,154, in which 2,866 are women and 4,288 children.

The report indicated that more than eight million women and girls need the provision of life-saving services during this year.

It pointed out that the number of displaced persons rose to 5,159,560, including 740,122 families, half of whom are women and children.

The report indicated that with the lack of shelter options available, displaced women and girls suffer most due to the lack of privacy, the threat to their safety, and the lack of access to basic services, which makes them more vulnerable to violence and abuse.

Moreover, the report said that one out of every three displaced families is headed by women, and the girls who support 21 percent of these families are under 18 years old.

The report stated that the violations committed by the aggression forces in the western coast amounted to 696 violations, including 132 rape crimes and 56 kidnapping crimes, while the violations in the southern governorates, and Aden in particular, amounted to 443 rape crimes, according to civilians reports.

The number of persons with disabilities increased from 3 million, before the start of the aggression, to 4.5 million people, indicating that about 6 thousand civilians have been disabled as a result of armed hostilities since the start of the aggression, including approximately five thousand and 559 children, and the actual number is expected to be much higher. There are 16,000 cases of women and children who need physical rehabilitation.

With regard to education, the report said that there are at least 2.4 million children who are still out of school, out of an estimated 10.6 million children of school age (from 6 to 17 years).

He pointed out that the number of children facing interruption in education may rise to 6 million, while 8.1 million children require emergency educational assistance across the country.

The report added that nearly 3,500 schools are either destroyed or damaged, with about 27% of schools closed across the country, in addition to 66% of schools being damaged due to severe violence, and 7% of schools being used as shelters for the displaced.

He pointed out that an estimated 171,600 male and female teachers – or two-thirds of those working in the field of education – have not received their salaries regularly since 2016, and therefore stopped teaching to find other ways to support their families, which puts nearly 4 million additional children at risk of losing their education.

The report indicated that 31 percent of Yemeni girls are out of school, as a result of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the inability of families to provide basic educational needs.

He stated that 12.6 million children require some form of humanitarian assistance or protection, and it is estimated that poverty rates have risen to about %80, and out of every 10 children, more than 8 children live with families that do not have sufficient income to meet their basic needs.

The report notes the expansion of the phenomenon of child labor during the war, at a rate that may exceed four times what it was previously, indicating that 1.4 million working children are deprived of their most basic rights, and about 34.3% of working children are between the ages of 5 and 17 years.

In the health aspect, the organization stated that Yemen records the highest child mortality rates in the Middle East, with about 60 children dying out of every 1,000 births, in addition to the death of 52,000 children annually, which means a child dies every ten minutes, according to statistics.

The blockade, imposed by Saudi Arabia and supported by the USA, also led to an increase in malnutrition rates, which rose during the past two years to six million people, originally 3.6 million, thus increasing by %66. More than 2.3 million children under the age of five were registered suffering from malnutrition and 632,000 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition that threatens their lives. In addition, there are more than 1.5 million pregnant and lactating women suffering from malnutrition, of whom 650,495 are moderately malnourished.

While a woman and six newborns die every two hours due to complications during pregnancy or during childbirth, the number of women who may lose their lives during pregnancy or childbirth is estimated at approximately 17 thousand women.

The statement added that only 51% of health facilities operate in Yemen, and nearly 70% of obstetric medicines are not available due to the blockade and were deprived of entering the country by the Saudi aggressive coalition, resulting in more than 50% of newborn deaths that could be avoided if basic health care was provided.

The actual need for the health sector is estimated at about two thousand nurseries, while there are currently only 600 nurseries available, which causes the death of 50% of premature newborns.

According to the report, the number of people diagnosed with cancer has reached 35,000, including more than 1,000 children, and the number of children with heart defects has reached more than 3,000 children, who are in urgent need of traveling abroad for treatment.

With regard to epidemic diseases, the number of infected cases has reached about 4.5 million in the capital and the governorates, including 226 cases of polio, 1.136 million cases of malaria, and 14,508 suspected cases of cholera, in addition to the death of 15 children and the infection of 1,400 others with measles in 7 governorates during the year 2022.

The number of kidney failure patients has reached more than 5,000, whom are threatened with death due to the aggression and the blockade.

The organization held the aggression coalition led by America and Saudi Arabia responsible for all crimes and violations against civilians, especially women and children, over a period of 2900 days, calling on the international community, international organizations, and human rights and humanitarian bodies to bear legal and humanitarian responsibility for the violations and heinous massacres that occur against civilians.

In addition, it called on the free people of the world to take effective and positive action to stop the aggression and protect civilians, and to form an independent international commission to investigate all crimes committed against the Yemeni people, and to hold accountable all those found involved in them.