US-Saudi Aggression Insists on Preventing Entry of Detectors of Explosive Remnants of War into Yemen

The Executive Center for Mine Action confirmed that 204 children have been killed as a result of cluster bombs and remnants of war, including 44 deaths in 11 Yemeni governorates since the beginning of 2022.

The Center stated in a statement that while the world celebrates World Children’s Day on the 20th of November, Yemeni children are searching for their most basic rights forgotten during the eight years of absurd war that targeted them in their homes, schools, and their lives in general, until they lost the meaning of childhood.

“The celebration of World Children’s Day comes this year, while hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children are still deprived of their most basic rights, including health care, education and food. They suffer as a result of war explosive remnants and cluster bombs dropped by the Saudi-Emirati coalition,” the Center said.

It pointed out that for the eighth consecutive year of war and siege on the Yemenis, the deliberate silence and failure of the United Nations continues. It did not comply with international covenants, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the care and protection of children from any attack.

The statement pointed to the suffering of children as a result of the aggression and cluster bombs that affected their lives. It confirmed the killing and wounding of 145 children, including 29 dead, as a result of cluster bombs and remnants of war during the UN truce period that began on April 2, 2022.

The Center attributed the continued fall of victims in those numbers as a result of thousands of cluster bombs that are still lurking in various Yemeni regions, killing more children every day. Moreover, the coalition prevented the entry of detectors that would reduce casualties by clearing areas of bombs and remnants of war, which confirms the United Nations’ lack of commitment to child rights.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the claim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power.

The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead, and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.

The victims of cluster bombs have reached more than 25,000 civilians since the beginning of the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen.

The landmines and other remnants of the US-Saudi mercenaries that they planted during their occupation, still pose a threat to the residents of many areas of the district, especially farms and roads.

Many areas in Yemen’s governorates have been bombarded by US-Saudi aggression with cluster bombs, while many of those internationally prohibited bombs are still scattered among farms and roads, and their victims are in the dozens.

In official statistics, 2,500 cluster, destructive, phosphorous and piercing bomb raids targeted nine governorates in the republic, foremost among which were US bombs like the CBU-87, British bombs like the BL755 and the Brazilian ASTROS II bombs.

Each of these weapons has its own properties and high impacts on humans and environment, which remain life threatening for a long period of time. This shows the scale of the disaster that befell Yemen as a result of these US, British and other weapons.

The US-Saudi aggression refuses to enter equipment and devices to detect explosives in light of the silence of the United Nations, which bears the greatest responsibility for the continued casualties due to the remnants of the aggression, including mines and cluster bombs.

The Mine Center’s field work is concentrated in dangerous areas and densely populated directorates. However, the UN’s curtailment of its support programs and the coalition’s prevention of the introduction of detectors raises the specter of death that threatens the lives of women and children.