Human Rights Council

Item 10: General Debate

- Technical assistance and capacity-building

Mr. President,

IUS PRIMI VIRI and Geneva International Centre for Justice would like to stress children’s rights violations in Yemen.

Children are the main victims of the ongoing war in the country. The malfunctioning health care and famine put hundreds of children on the verge of death.

Malnutrition has spread like wildfire among children in seized areas. Other diseases have also begun to emerge among the population. For instance, the rapid spread of diphtheria in Yemen highlights major gaps in routine vaccination coverage in recent years and signifies a collapsing health system. Only 50% of all health facilities are fully or, at least, partially functioning.

We welcome the World Health Organization and UNICEF initiatives to vaccinate more than 2.7 million children under the age of 15 to protect them from the infectious disease. We urge the international community to take more steps on the same direction in order to combat famine and other grave diseases.

The providers must ensure that aid is provided directly to the Yemeni children, since allegations are constantly blaming Houthi militia for interfering with available humanitarian aid, selling it on the black market and distributing the products among themselves.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children”.

Thank you.