UN: Children Suffering 'Vicious Cycle of Violence' in Yemen

Six children are killed or injured every day in conflict-torn Yemen, and children as young as 10-years-old are recruited to fight, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund. The report  also underscored that child recruitment has risen exponentially during the fighting and that the country is at risk of becoming a failed State

“Children are paying the highest price for a conflict not of their making,” UNICEF Country Representative Julien Harneis said in a press release. “They have been killed or maimed across the country and are no longer safe anywhere in Yemen. Even playing or sleeping has become dangerous.”

UNICEF estimates that nearly 10,000 deaths from preventable diseases may have occurred among children under five years old in the past year as a result of the decline in critical health services including immunization and the treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia.

This figure is in addition to the nearly 40,000 children who die every year in Yemen before their fifth birthday, according to the U.N.