YEMEN: Nine out of ten displaced children struggle to have food, water, schooling

14 Jul 2021 Yemen

YEMEN: Nine out of ten displaced children struggle to have food, water, schooling

With the ongoing violence in Yemen forcing children and their families from their homes, nine out of ten children in displacement camps don’t have sufficient access to basics like food, clean water and an education[1], Save the Children said today. The organisation called for full access to displaced communities, to improve services for children in the camps.

Children in the camps, around half of which are within five kilometres of a front line, often have to walk for hours to find safe drinking water and wood for cooking. Many of them have no option but to work in order to help with the family income.

WE STAND SIDE BY SIDE WITH CHILDREN IN THE WORLD'S 
TOUGHEST PLACES.

With the conflict in Yemen in its seventh year, some 1.71 million children remain displaced in the country and cut off from basic services. Half a million of them have no access to formal education.

In 2020, an estimated 115,000 children were forced to flee their homes because of the escalating violence, mainly around Marib and the Hodeida, Hajjah and Taiz regions[2]. In 2021 so far, around 25,000[3] children and their families had to leave their homes.  

Xavier Joubert, Save the Children’s Country Director in Yemen, said:

“Children are the first to suffer the consequences of displacement, and are impacted most. The fighting, the floods that have destroyed shelters of thousands of people, the second wave of COVID-19 and poverty are forcing people to flee - many parents cannot afford even the basics for their children4.”

“These boys and girls feel unsafe in their makeshift shelters, and often have to go through the day on an empty stomach. For 523,000 displaced children this also means they can’t go to class.[5] Every day without education chips away from their future.”

Leyla, 11, lives in a displacement camp in Lahj with her younger brother and her parents.

“In Hodeida, we used to have our own house. Here, there is no security and the shelter is not good. The tent doesn’t make me feel safe. Last year we had a home, kitchen, a fridge, toilet and water, but here we have nothing. The most difficult thing is that we don’t have water, money or clothes.”

Elham*, 22, is a volunteer teacher of Save the Children who lives and works at the same camp.

“The situation is very difficult for women and girls here in the camp. Just going to the bathroom at night is a challenge. They are far from our tents, there is no light on the street and many men are hanging around. We don’t feel safe. We have to gather into groups of three or take a male relative just to go to the toilet,” she says.

“Children are dropping out of school because they have to work to support their families. Several days ago, a 10 year-old boy got electrocuted while he was working. He is still in the hospital fighting for his life.”

Save the Children is providing informal education, water and sanitation services in several camps across Yemen. However, the organization flags more has to be done to improve and increase access for humanitarian actors to displaced communities, and ensure that they have the basics and their children are protected.

Save the Children is calling on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including schools and hospitals, and respect International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in their conduct of hostilities. We also urge donors to increase their financial and diplomatic support to children and their families in Yemen.[6]

1 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen_HNO_2021_Final.pdf 

2 https://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2647?y=2020#year

3 https://dtm.iom.int/reports/yemen-%E2%80%94-rapid-displacement-tracking-update-13-june-19-june-2021

4 https://reliefweb.int/disaster/fl-2021-000043-yem

5 https://www.unicef.org/yemen/media/5546/file/EDUCATION%20DISRUPTED%20Report.pdf

6 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen_HNO_2021_Final.pdf

For more information or spokespeople you can reach out to:

Related News

COP29 sign at Baku, Azerbaijan

Randa Ghazy/ Save the Children

22 Nov 2024

Azerbaijan

NEWS QUOTE FROM COP29 - “It will be bad for me to go home without any good news for children” – Maxwell, 15 from South Sudan

As COP29 is coming to an end, Save the Children and child campaigners in Baku remind world leaders that children’s rights must be at the centre of negotiations over the climate finance goal. 
READ MORE
Maysa*, 28, holding her son Khalid*, 3, in the camp where the family is displaced in Syria

Maysa*, 28, and her husband, Bahaa*, 24, have two young children; Khalid*, three, and Khansa*, one and a half. The family is now living in a displacement camp in Syria after fleeing the violence in Lebanon. In 2019, Bahaa fled Syria to Lebanon, to escape escalating violence in his village, in search of safety and work. In Lebanon, he married Maysa*, a Syrian refugee. The family worked in agriculture, living in tents set up in the fields they worked in. Life wasn’t so easy for them, often landowners withheld their wages which were barely enough to cover basic needs. Some non-governmental organisations provided aid, which helped them get by, but life remained tough. When the violence escalated in Lebanon, the family fled to Syria to save the lives of their children. Save the Children is assisting the family by providing Ready-to-Eat kits, hygiene kits, dignity kits for women, and Plumpy Nut butter for children under 5 years. They are one of the 117 families who arrived on October 29, 2024, in one of the displacement camps in Syria and are living through difficult conditions. They have limited access to water, food, and warm clothes for their children. Despite receiving some basic supplies, such as blankets, a tent, and food baskets, the extreme cold affected their son’s health, and he fell sick. Roni Ahmed / Save the Children

13 Nov 2024

Lebanon

ABOUT 300,000 CHILDREN HAVE FLED LEBANON TO SYRIA, WHERE AID NEEDS HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER

About 300,000 children have fled from Lebanon to Syria in the past seven weeks to seek safety from the worsening conflict, only to arrive in a country where humanitarian needs have never been higher. We have multimedia content to accompany this press release: www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2S11VJ1U
READ MORE
Mpox Case Isolation Center Uvira, DRC

Prudence*, 26, a mother of three from South Kivu province, fled armed conflict with her family to Uvira, DRC, in 2023. The hot climate led to widespread illness, with her family suffering from malaria and her children contracting cholera, which is endemic in the area. In May 2024, Mpox spread in her health zone, primarily affecting children. By September, her youngest daughter Christelle*, just 5 months old, fell ill with Mpox. Unsure of the illness, Prudence* initially treated her with medicine from a local pharmacy, which was ineffective. While seeking help from a traditional practitioner, Prudence* encountered community relays trained by Save the Children, who advised her to seek proper treatment at the Mpox isolation centre. Christelle’s* health began improving during her two-week stay at the centre, much to her mother’s relief. Prudence* is thankful for the support she received and dreams of a better future for her children, hoping for peace to return to her village so she can resume farming. Elias Mcito / Save the Children

13 Nov 2024

Burundi , Democratic Congo

Cases of new mpox strain more than double among children in DR Congo and Burundi since emergency declared

The new and aggressive strain of the potentially deadly mpox virus  is spreading rapidly among children in the DRC and Burundi, with cases more than doubling since a public health emergency was declared in mid-August.
READ MORE