Children – Page 3

'No Justice': Israel clears itself for 2014 killing of children on Gaza beach

June 13, 2015 by Nasheman

Families and witnesses respond with outrage and calls for ‘international community to act’

This print memorializes the children killed by Israel’s July 2014 attack on Gaza City beach: Mohammad Ramiz Bakr (11), Ahed Atef Bakr (10), Zakariya Ahed Bakr (10), and Ismail Mahmoud Bakr (9). (Image by Nicole Manganelli/emprints)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

The Israeli military announced Thursday it has exonerated itself for killing four children on a beach in Gaza during last summer’s seven-week military assault on the besieged strip, prompting expressions of outrage and demands for justice from family members and international journalists who witnessed the attack.

“There is no justice in the internal investigation,” declared Mohammed Bakr, father of 11-year-old Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, who was slain in the bombing along with his cousins Ahed Atef Bakr (10), Zakariya Ahed Bakr (10), and Ismail Mahmoud Bakr (9).

“We are counting on the [International Criminal Court] and human rights,” added the bereaved father. “We are not afraid and we are confident we will win because the world is with us.”

On July 16 of last year, the children were struck and killed by Israeli explosives while they played soccer on Gaza City’s beach. In addition to the four who were slain, three people aged 11 to 21 were severely wounded.

Tragically, the attack was not unique. The Israeli air war and ground invasion, politically and financially backed by the United States, was waged against one of the most densely-populated areas in the world, where roughly half of residents are children and Palestinians are not able to leave due to a military blockade and siege. At least 2,145 Palestinians were killed in 50 days, the vast majority of them civilians and at least 578 of them children.

However, because the beach attack was waged in plain view of a hotel patronized by international journalists, it was thrust into the global media spotlight, with many prominent reporters serving as direct eye-witnesses and some even aiding the wounded.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks was one of the witnesses. “There is no safe place in Gaza right now,” he wrote soon after the attack. “Bombs can land at any time, anywhere.”

“Children, maybe four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes, running from an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas fighters,” he added.

However, after the subsequent internal investigation of the killing, the Israeli military cleared itself of wrongdoing, declaring the killings an accident. In a statement released Thursday, Israeli Army spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner said that “the Military Advocate General found that the attack process in question accorded with Israeli domestic law and international law requirements.”

The statement went on to claim that the attacks were justified because Israeli forces had reason to believe the children were Hamas “militants.” However, investigators admitted that the probe only included testimony from Israeli soldiers and officers.

The military’s version of events were quickly called into question by witnesses, including The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont, who pointed out the following discrepancies:

Beaumont was never contacted for a statement despite being a willing witness.
The numerous journalists in the area found no evidence of Hamas combatants near the site at the time of the attack.
The bombing occurred at a crowded civilian beach often frequented by workers as well as sunbathers and swimmers.
It is not clear from the investigation how the military failed to recognize that the victims were clearly children.

Moreover, the military’s proclamation of its innocence contradicts the recent testimony of its own soldiers. Last month, 60 Israeli officers and soldiers who took part in the war said that the “massive and unprecedented harm” inflicted on the population of Gaza stemmed from the top of the chain of command, which gave orders to shoot indiscriminately at civilians.

Josh Ruebner, policy director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, toldCommon Dreams, “The killing that occurred on the beach that day was magnified a hundred fold [during last summer’s war]. Yet there have been no cases in which Israel has held itself accountable for any of these horrific war crimes in Gaza, either from last summer or Operation Cast Lead in 2009. The U.S. is complicit.”

The results of Israel’s inquiry were announced just days after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon removed the Israeli military from an official list of groups that violate children’s rights, following heavy pressure from the United States and Israel. Israel, backed by the U.S., has vigorously opposed UN investigations into war crimes.

“Israel behaves as if it’s a country above international law,” declared Zakariya Bakr, the uncle of the killed Bakr cousins, on Friday. “We urge the international community to act seriously to stop this farce.”

Canadian government charged with 'cultural genocide' over indigenous schools

June 3, 2015 by Nasheman

Truth and Reconciliation Commission report says historic government program was central in plan to ‘eliminate aboriginal people as distinct peoples’

Residential school children students in a typical classroom. An estimated 6,0000 of Canada’s indigenous children died in residential schools that failed to keep them safe from fires, protected from abusers, and healthy from deadly disease, a Commission report found. (Photo: Anglican Church Archives)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

The Canadian government’s historic practice of forcibly removing Indigenous youth from their homes and sending them to “residential schools”—where tens of thousands were subjected to abuse, malnutrition, substandard education, illness, and often death—amounts to nothing short of “cultural genocide,” charged the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which on Tuesday released its years-long investigation into the program.

The culmination of six years of research and 6,750 survivor and witness statements, the report argues that the Canadian government operated the school program with the explicit purpose of breaking children’s link “to their culture and identity,” and describes a “lonely and alien” existence, where students’ native languages and practices were suppressed and neglect and abuse were common.According to the report:

Buildings were poorly located, poorly built, and poorly maintained. The staﬀ was limited in numbers, often poorly trained, and not adequately supervised. Many schools were poorly heated and poorly ventilated, and the diet was meager and of poor quality. Discipline was harsh, and daily life was highly regimented. Aboriginal languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed. The educational goals of the schools were limited and confused, and usually reﬂected a low regard for the intellectual capabilities of Aboriginal people. For the students, education and technical training too often gave way to the drudgery of doing the chores necessary to make the schools self-sustaining. Child neglect was institutionalized, and the lack of supervision created situations where students were prey to sexual and physical abusers.

“These measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will,” the report states. Further, the Commission argues that the government “pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources.”

Over the course of 150 years, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children spent time in roughly 80 residential schools throughout the country. Approximately 80,000 survivors are still alive today.

The Commission lays out 94 calls for action, which it says are the “first steps” toward addressing the legacy of injustice and advancing the process of reconciliation.

Among the recommendations are efforts to protect child welfare, preserve language and culture, promote legal equity, and strengthen information on missing children. The report also emphasizes the important role that education can have in the healing process and calls for Canadian governments to work towards eliminating the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, as well as develop curriculum on residential schools.

“The children who attended these schools were severely punished for practicing their cultural ceremonies, for speaking their family’s language,” said TRC Commissioner Dr. Marie Wilson. “Reconciliation rests on building aboriginal culture back up, and preserving the languages and ceremonies that the schools tried to eliminate.”

The report also calls on governments across Canada to adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (pdf), which the Commission says will also help achieve successful reconciliation.

“One hundred years from now, our children’s children and their children must know and still remember this history, because they will inherit from us the responsibility of ensuring that it never happens again,” the report says.

The TRC was established in 2007 as a result of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Unable to bear male child, woman kills three minors in Punjab

May 19, 2015 by Nasheman

Kapurthala: A woman was booked for murdering three children, including her two daughters, over a period of two months allegedly under frustration for not being able to bear a male child, police said here today.

Accused Sarabjit Kaur, at village Mand Sarupwala in Sultanpurilodha area near here, murdered her six-year-old daughter by giving her poison and followed the same method to kill her two-year-old daughter also, police said. According to the police, the accused woman has also confessed to killing a relative’s two-year-old son by poisoning him, too, SP Jagjit Soraya said.

Police had registered a criminal case on April 11 against the woman on the complaint of her father-in-law who suspected her of the killings, the SP said adding, following which the post mortem of boy was done and his viscera sent for analysis.

Meanwhile the police also consulted psychologists and other experts and on the findings of post mortem report concluded that the accused had murdered the three kids in a frustration for not being able to bear a male child, he said.

Sultanpurlodhi Deputy SP Devinder Singh, when contacted, said police arrested the accused Sarabjit Kaur and was produced her before the local magistrate who remanded her to two days police custody.

During preliminary interrogation, the accused confessed murdering the three kids and a case under section 302 IPC against her, police said.

(PTI)

Child labour law amended: Children below 14 can now work in family businesses

May 13, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: Government today gave its nod to a proposal allowing children below 14 years of age to work only in family enterprises or entertainment industry with certain conditions while completely banning their employment elsewhere.

The original child labour law banned employment of children below 14 in only 18 hazardous industries.

The amendments also make it clear that children between 14 and 18 years will also not be allowed to work in hazardous industries.

The changes in the labour law also provide for stricter punishment for employers for violation. While there is no penalty provision for parents for the first offence, the employer would be liable for punishment even for the first violation.

In case of parents, the repeat offenders may be penalised with a monetary fine up to Rs 10,000

In case of first offence, the penalty for employers has been increased up to two and half times from the existing up to Rs 20 thousand to up to Rs 50,000 now.

In case of a second or subsequent offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, the minimum imprisonment would be one year which may extend to three years.

Earlier, the penalty for second or subsequent offence of employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a minimum term of six months which may extend to two years.

After the Cabinet nod, Government will move official amendments to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 in Parliament.

While child rights activists were opposed to the dilution saying it will promote child labour, those involved in business maintained that children need to be trained in traditional arts at an early stage or they will not be able to acquire the required skills like weaving and stitching.

The age of prohibition of employment has been linked to age under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

Exceptions have, however, been made in case of works in which the child helps the family or family enterprises.

The condition is that such enterprises should not involved any hazardous occupation. Another condition set forth is that they should work after school hours or during vacations.

Moreover, exemption has also been given where the child works as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry, including advertisement, films, television serials or any such other entertainment or sports activities except the circus.

This exemption is also conditional and stipulates taking up prescribed safety measures

An official statement said that while considering a total prohibition on employment of child, it would be prudent to also keep in mind the country’s social fabric and socio- economic conditions.

Justifying the amendments, it said, “In a large number of families, children help their parents in their occupations like agriculture, artisanship etc and while helping the parents, children also learn the basics of occupations.

“Therefore, striking a balance between the need for education for a child and the reality of the socio-economic condition and social fabric in the country, the Cabinet has approved that a child can help his family or family enterprise, which is other than any hazardous occupation or process, after his school hours or during vacation.”

Besides a new definition of adolescent has been introduced in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years of age) has been prohibited in hazardous occupations and processes.

“These provisions would go a long way in protecting adolescents from the employment not suitable to their age,” it said.

The statement said that in case of first offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, penalty would be imprisonment for a term not less than six months but which may extend to two years.

Besides they could be fined an amount not less than Rs 20,000 which may extend to Rs 50,000. They could also be penalised with both imprisonment and monetary fine.

Earlier, penalty for employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a term not less than three months, which could extend to one year.

The monetary penalty for the same was a fine not less than Rs 10000, which could extend to Rs 20,000 either alone or with the imprisonment.

In case of a second or subsequent offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law, the minimum imprisonment would be one year which may extend to three years now.

Earlier, penalty for second or subsequent offence of employing any child in contravention of the law was imprisonment for a minimum term of six months which may extend to two years.

Besides, the offence of employing any child or adolescent in contravention of the law by an employer has been made cognisable which allows police to arrest without a warrant.

Government believes that this provision would act as a deterrent against the offence of employing a child or adolescent in contravention of the law.

In the principal Act, the same punishment was provided for parents or guardians for permitting a child to work in contravention of the Act, as prescribed for the employer of the child.

However, taking a “realistic view” of the socio-economic conditions of the parents, there would be no punishment in case of a first offence by them and in case of a second and subsequent offence, the penalty would be a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000, the statement said.

The proposal also provides for the setting up of a Child and Adolescent Labour Rehabilitation Fund for one or more districts for rehabilitation of children or adolescents rescued.

Thus, the Act itself will provide for a fund to carry out rehabilitation activities.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (CLPR Act) 1986 prohibits employment of a child in 18 occupations and 65 processes and regulates the conditions of working of children in other occupations/ processes.

As per this Act, a child means any person who has not completed 14 years of age. The Act provides punishment for the offence of employing or permitting employment of any child in contravention of the provisions of this Act.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 enjoins the state to ensure free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

A corollary to this would be that if a child is in the work place, he would miss school.

It was felt that thus, the CLPR Act is not aligned to the RTE Act as it permits employment of child below 14 years in occupations and processes not prohibited.

It was also felt that the CLPR Act is not in conformity with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182, which provide for minimum age of entry into employment and prohibition of employment of persons below 18 years, in work which is likely to harm health, safety and morals.

The amendments being brought in the Act takes care of these anomalies, the government said.

(PTI)

CAR to sue French soldiers over alleged sex crimes

May 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Justice minister announces case against soldiers accused of raping children in exchange for food at a refugee camp.

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The Central African Republic will take legal action against the French soldiers accused of raping children in exchange for food at a refugee camp, the country’s justice minister has said.

“Legal action will be pursued … These are still very serious acts,” said Justice Minister Aristide Sokambi on Wednesday, insisting his nation was not targeting France but individual soldiers.

Several children – the youngest just nine – allege that 14 soldiers dispatched to the impoverished nation as part of a peacekeeping force sexually abused some of them in exchange for food between December 2013 and June 2014.

“We regret the fact we were not brought into these investigations despite the cooperation agreements we have with France,” Sokambi added.

“So I have instructed the public prosecutor to open a probe and seek the evidence already at the disposal of the French.”

French troops were deployed to the Central African Republic in December 2013 to help African Union peacekeepers restore order after a bout of sectarian violence triggered by a coup.

Hundreds of troops were stationed at Bangui’s M’Poko airport, which was transformed into a giant refugee camp.

Most of the displaced families living amid the abandoned planes had lost everything in the conflict, which pitted mainly Muslim rebels against vigilantes from the majority Christian population.

Paris investigates

Prosecutors in Paris have opened an investigation into the reports, with France’s defence ministry pledging to take “all the measures necessary for the truth to come out”.

The defence ministry has said it immediately launched a probe into the case, sending police investigators to the former French colony on August 1 after receiving the news.

The ministry has denied attempting to cover up a potentially devastating scandal. The allegations were contained in an internal UN report that was leaked to French authorities last summer by a UN official.

If proven, the allegations will not only affect the French army but also the Central African Republic, which is trying to find a way out of a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 900,000 people.

Many people living in the camp at M’Poko airport had lost their livelihoods to the violence.

Hunger in the camp became so widespread that riots often broke out when food was distributed.

Targeting ISIS, US-led strike kills 52 civilians, including 7 children

May 4, 2015 by Nasheman

Edited U.S. Air Force image of two F-15E fighters after conducting airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 23, 2014. U.S. Central Command directed the operations. (Photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch/USAF via Stuart Rankin/cc/flickr)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

A U.S. military strike on Friday targeting fighters with the Islamic State has killed 52 civilians, including 7 children and 9 women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday.

According to the human rights watchdog group, an additional 13 Syrian civilians are missing following the attack on a village in the northern province of Aleppo. The deaths mark the highest civilian loss from a single attack since the U.S.-led coalition began its war against the Islamic State, or ISIS, in September 2014.

“[We] condemn in the strongest terms this massacre committed by the U.S led coalition under the pretext of targeting the IS in the village, and we call the coalition countries to refer who committed this massacre to the courts, as we renew our calls to neutralize all civilians areas from military operations by all parties,” the group said in a statement.

Coalition airstrikes have killed an estimated 118 civilians. However, Reuters notes, the U.S.-led attack has “had little impact on the hardline Islamic State group, slowing its advances but failing to weaken it in areas it controls.”

“Washington and its allies say their aim is to support what they call moderate rebels fighting against both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Isis,” Reuters continues. “But four years into Syria’s civil war, no side is close to victory. A third of the population has been made homeless and more than 220,000 people have been killed.”

French soldiers accused of raping CAR children

April 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Prosecutors investigate accusations that troops in Central African Republic abused children they were sent to protect.

A UN report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

France is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic after a leaked UN report said victims as young as eight were raped in exchange for food and money.

The French government “was made aware at the end of July 2014 by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights of accusations by children that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers”, the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

An investigation was opened shortly after by Paris prosecutors, it said.

The defence ministry vowed to take measures to ensure that “the truth be found” and said “the strongest penalties” would be imposed on those found responsible.

The abuse was alleged by around 10 children, the ministry said, and reportedly took place at a centre for displaced people near the airport of the capital Bangui between December 2013 and June 2014.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that UN rights investigators had conducted a probe last year following “serious allegations” of child abuse and sexual exploitation by French troops, and had suspended a staff member for leaking the report in July.

The report was given to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper by the US-based advocacy group AIDS-Free World, which is calling for a commission of inquiry to be set up on sexual misconduct by peacekeepers.

Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said that even though the French military said an investigation was under way on their behalf, the incident is potentially embarrassing for the UN.

“Until now, the one person who has been punished for anything is that UN human rights official who raised the alarm,” he said.

Children searching for food

Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World, said the report detailed interviews with six children, aged eight to 15, who approached the French soldiers to ask for food.

“The children were saying that they were hungry and they thought that they could get some food from the soldiers. The answer was ‘if you do this, then I will give you food’,” Donovan told AFP news agency.

“Different kids used different language.”

The report by the UN human rights office was commissioned amid fears of sexual abuse against children last year as tens of thousands were displaced by fighting and unrest in the country.

The UN employee accused of the leak, Swedish national Anders Kompass, is based in Geneva and turned the report over to French authorities because his bosses had failed to take action, The Guardian reported.

He has been suspended and faces dismissal for breaching protocol, the paper said.

But UN officials said Kompass passed on the confidential document before it was presented to senior officials in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, suggesting that senior UN officials were not even aware of the report’s findings when it was leaked.

“This constitutes a serious breach of protocol, which, as is well known to all OHCHR officials, requires redaction of any information that could endanger victims, witnesses and investigators,” said Haq.

While the UN did not identify the source of the leak, it asserted that “such conduct does not constitute whistleblowing”.

Hunger and death stalk millions in Yemen's war

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

(Photo: UNICEF)

by Mohammed Mukhashaf and Noah Browning, Reuters

Aden/Dubai: Hospitals bereft of electricity, homes crushed by air strikes, thousands on the move in search of water, shelter and food: Yemen’s humanitarian plight, long fragile, has become disastrous after a month of all-out war.

In a reversal of a journey long undertaken by those fleeing disaster, war and famine, some Yemenis have resorted to escaping to less unstable zones in the Horn of Africa.

Hospitals in the capital Sanaa, too short of gasoline to run ambulances, blared appeals to private drivers with enough fuel to collect the dead and injured lying in the street after a big air strike on capital Sanaa last week.

The bombing of a missile depot set off a explosion which shredded dozens of homes and sent a mushroom cloud towering over the city.

Crammed with wounded people, some hospitals lacked the electricity or generator fuel to perform surgery, and aid officials say some bodies are now being stored in commercial refrigerators or hastily buried when fetid morgues lack power.

“Ambulances can’t run, there’s very little electricity and not enough fuel for generators. In a water-scarce country like Yemen, that means you can’t even pump water,” said International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali.

“It’s a catastrophe, a humanitarian catastrophe. It was difficult enough before, but now there are just no words for how bad it’s gotten,” she added.

Hundreds of Saudi-led air strikes and dozens of ground battles across Yemen have left millions in the impoverished country hungry and 150,000 fleeing for their lives.

At least 1,080 people have been killed, according to the United Nations, their bodies often crushed under bombed homes or left to fester in war zones. More than 4,000 have been wounded.

An Arab alliance’s month-long campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels has yet to loosen their grip over the capital Sanaa or beat back their gains in fronts across hundreds of miles in Yemen’s south.

Behind the struggle for the country’s future, average Yemenis bear the brunt of fighting. The United Nations say 12 million people are “food insecure” or going hungry, a 13 percent increase since the conflict started.

A blockade has choked off imports of food and medicines, while combat has interrupted fuel supplies to the country’s 25 million people.

The shortages have warped daily life and crippled hospitals.

Hisham Abdul Wahab, a resident of the district lashed by last week’s blast, said he tried but failed to stay on.

“Some people began returning to the neighborhood, but the strikes began again and now they’re leaving a second time. The place is devastated: there are no roads, no water and no electricity. Nobody’s left but thieves,” he said.

EXODUS

The tank and machine gun fire became too much for Samad Hussein Shihab and his family last week. He, his young children and elderly mother left their homes in the town of Houta and trekked by foot over sandy wastes to a village an hour away.

“It was the only way to protect my family. Houta is a total disaster area, with almost no civilians remaining. 3,000 families have left and they are suffering badly,” he said.

While he has now reached the relative safety of Aden and was taken in by kin, the city is itself shaken by clashes between Houthi militiamen and armed locals.

Snipers’ bullets and Katyusha rockets have rendered roads into town virtually impassable, preventing aid supplies getting in and desperate citizens from getting out.

Residents say dozens from the city have taken to rickety fishing boats seeking refuge in Somaliland and Djibouti, lands even poorer than Yemen but now more peaceful.

For those who remain, hope, along with basic staples of life, are in short supply.

“Displaced people are camped out in abandoned school grounds and people in the city are sitting through the shelling with no food and no electricity,” said local aid worker Wissam al-Hiswa.

“We are more desperate than a person sitting on a red-hot coal to get food into this city, but over the last week only 22 tons have gotten in, and we have nothing to provide,” he added.

Saudi Arabia announced last week that it would scale back its strikes and step up aid efforts, in a pause that was demanded by rights and aid groups.

The kingdom pledged $274 million to fully cover a U.N. humanitarian aid appeal for Yemen this month and has allowed aid agencies to ship hundreds of tons of medicine.

But air strikes hit a displaced persons camp, killing at least 40, and a humanitarian warehouse for aid agency Oxfam.

For many tens of thousands of people fleeing remote conflict zones, like Bakeel Saleh from the city of Dalea tucked among mountains in Yemen’s south, peace and relief look distant.

“There are no supplies or aid organizations around to help the thousands who fled the city into surrounding villages,” Saleh said.

“The main hospital and most people’s homes have been hit by the shelling. Our house was among them – it’s destroyed.” he added.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Noah Browning, Editing By William Maclean and Philippa Fletcher)

'Over 115' children killed in Yemen war

April 24, 2015 by Nasheman

UN agency UNICEF says about half were killed by air strikes, and others by mines, gunshots, and shelling.

UNICEF says at least 64 children have been killed by air strikes [REUTERS]

by Al Jazeera

At least 115 children have been killed and 172 injured in Yemen since Saudi-led coalition air strikes began in March, according to the UN’s agency for the welfare of children.

A spokesman from UNICEF said on Friday at least 64 children who had died between March 26 and April 20 had been killed by the strikes.

“We believe that these are conservative figures,” said UN official Christophe Boulierac.

Another 26 children had been killed by unexploded bombs and mines, 19 by gunshots, three by shelling and three by “unverified causes related to the conflict,” the agency said.

Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the air war at the end of March as Iranian-backed Houthi fighters swept across the country.

The World Health Organisation on Thursday said the overall death toll in Yemen had topped 1,000, and the UN’s human rights agency said on Friday at least 551 of the people who died were civilians.

UNICEF, meanwhile, said that since March 26, at least 140 children had been recruited by armed groups.

The agency’s representative in Yemen Julien Harneis said earlier this month that up to a third of fighters in the country were children.

“Hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen… continue to live in the most dangerous circumstances, many waking up scared in the middle of the night to the sounds of bombing and gunfire,” Harneis said in a statement on Friday.

Humanitarian crisis

The spiralling conflict has fuelled a humanitarian disaster in a country that was already suffering from shortages before the latest fighting erupted.

The UN’s World Food Programme warned on Friday that a full 12 million people in the country did not know where their next meal was coming from, a 13 percent increase since the conflict escalated in late March.

The agency said it was delivering food to more than 100,000 people sheltered around the southern port city of Aden.

“But we are struggling to reach people because of deteriorating security,” a WFP statement said, adding that dire fuel shortages were also hampering the response.

The food agency said it hoped to provide emergency food aid to 2.5 million people from May to July.

'No Justice': Israel clears itself for 2014 killing of children on Gaza beach

Canadian government charged with 'cultural genocide' over indigenous schools

Unable to bear male child, woman kills three minors in Punjab

Child labour law amended: Children below 14 can now work in family businesses

CAR to sue French soldiers over alleged sex crimes

Targeting ISIS, US-led strike kills 52 civilians, including 7 children

French soldiers accused of raping CAR children

Hunger and death stalk millions in Yemen's war

'Over 115' children killed in Yemen war

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