7,500 kids ‘killed or maimed’ in Yemen since 2013, UN says

The suffering of children caught up in the Yemen conflict has become “simply appalling,” according to a UN report. It says thousands of kids have been killed, recruited as soldiers and

The suffering of children caught up in the Yemen conflict has become “simply appalling,” according to a UN report. It says thousands of kids have been killed, recruited as soldiers and subjected to devastating violence.

More than 7,500 children have been killed or wounded in Yemen over the past 5 1/2 years, the UN said in a report published Friday.

The impoverished Arab country descended into conflict in 2014, leading to what has been described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 

The report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres documented thousands of grave violations against children between April 2013 and December 2018.

“The suffering of children in Yemen has worsened during the reporting period, becoming simply appalling,” Virginia Gamba, the UN special representative for children in conflict, said. “The civilian population, especially children, is kept hostage of a conflict they didn’t choose to be in.”

The war in Yemen broke out in 2014 when Houthi rebels overran the capital, Sanaa, and drove President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi into exile. In early 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and aligned with Hadi, joined the fighting. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.