[21/11/2017 04:02]

RIYADH-SABA
The Minister of Information has appealed to "the whole world to act to stop the Houthi-Saleh militias' organized crimes against children in Yemen."

In a statement to Saba on Tuesday on the occasion of the World Children's Day that was Monday November 20, Muammar al-Eryani said "the militias' abuses resulted in thousands of children being killed, injured and displaced from their homes."

He said: "The militias conscript minors into the warfrontsto be fighters and human shields. They also kill children by their shelling of houses and neighborhoods and by planting landmines in all cities and destroying schools, hospitals and health centers."

"Houthis killed hundreds of children in their indiscriminate shelling on the heavily populated cities of Taiz, Aden, Lahj, Marib and Beidha," he said. International human rights groups indicated that the militias killed 1002 in their heavy shelling on cities, 600 of the killed children are from Taiz and Aden.

"Childhood will remain threatened even after the end of the war owing to the multitudes of landmines that the militias planted in cities," he continued, "so far these landmines killed 179 children and maimed and disfigured 241 others."

He cited local governmental and international reports saying that the militias have planted quarter a million landmines in the country since the beginning of their insurgency.

He cited the UNICEF's new analysis conducted for World Children’s Daywhich indicatesthat two million Yemeni children are outside the schools as a result of the militias' takeover of power and embezzling the funds that should have been paid as salaries to teachers.

He also cited the reports of other human rights organization unveiling the Houthi militias set up of 83 centers for recruiting child soldiers in their areas of control.

Children constitute 50% of the militias' fighters according to these reports.

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