Zerrougui: International Push Needed To Encourage Parties To End Violations Yemeni Against Children

Describing the current situation in Yemen as “beyond tragic” for all affected by the hostilities, Leila Zerrougui says it is “ever more important” for both the United Nations Security Council and the international community to promote political dialogue aimed at ending violations against children.
“Regrettably, the scale of killing and maiming of children has increased dramatically in 2015,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict said in a briefing statement.
Citing United Nations figures, she said that more than 400 children were killed, and more than 600 injured between 26 March – which saw an escalation in the conflict with the launch of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition – and August.
“This is already more than triple the number of children killed and maimed during the whole of 2014,” SRSG Zerrougui said.
“I am appalled by the high level of child casualties, which indicates a failure by the parties to conflict to distinguish between civilian and military objects, and to take precautionary measures to avoid and minimize civilian casualties,” she later added.
SRSG Zerrougui included the remarks in a briefing delivered Friday before the Security Council working group on children and armed conflict, and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2140 (2014).
“In this complex environment, where we are faced with political stalemate and an intensification of conflict, it is ever more important for the Security Council and the international community to promote political dialogue and to seek to end to the violations committed against children,” SRSG Zerrougui said.
SRSG Zerrougui briefed that 73 percent of child deaths and injuries during the second quarter of 2015 were attributed to air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition .
She also said reports showed there had been a “stark increase in attacks and military use of schools” since March, while violence had additionally taken a “heavy toll on education workers.”
SRSG Zerrougui highlighted that verified attacks on hospitals had increased six-fold from the first to the second quarter of this year, adding that the destruction – together with insecurity due to conflict – was having a “serious impact on access to healthcare