In Yemen, the first day of school is not the same as that of our children: in a country ravaged by war it lacks everything.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousAbout twenty children sitting on the ground, walls broken on one side and non-existent walls on the other, a probable teacher moves his hands as an explanation. The shots of a Yemeni photographer put us in front of an embarrassing reality: the first day of school, like all the others, is not the same for all the children of the world. For those living in war zones it is a cruel matter of kidnapped childhood.
Here's what the pictures of Ahmad Al-Basha, photographer for AFP, the French news agency, showing a class of children on the first day of the new school year in Taez, the third largest city in Yemen, in a building that is practically no longer there due to the airstrike last year during fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and the Houti rebels.
"This war is not only destroying present Yemen, but also its future," warns the Yemeni NGO Mwatana for Human Rights, denouncing the impact of the conflict on children, who are increasingly exposed on the front line.
And in fact, before the war, the old Taez Market was crowded and full of handicrafts. Today, more than five years after the siege of the city by the Houthi rebels, the focus is on bullets and guns.
And the children have to deal with it practically every day.
Lesson time.
Children attend class on the first day of the new school year in Taez, Yemen.
The school was damaged in an air strike during fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Huthi rebels
? Ahmad Al-Basha pic.twitter.com/JwdsQOEFVh
- AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 4, 2019
The UN report
A report presented in Geneva in recent days denounces a series of war crimes with allegations of rape, sexual violence and gender-based violence committed by parties involved in the Yemeni civil war.
In the document, it remains clear that the Yemeni government and the Saudi coalition that supports it, the Houti rebels and their affiliated people's committees have so far gone unpunished. Yet there is talk of air strikes, indiscriminate bombings, acts of torture, sexual violence, obstacles to humanitarian aid and the use of hunger as a method of war.
"Five years after the start of the conflict, the violations against Yemeni civilians continue unabated, with total disregard for the plight of the people," said Kamel Jendoubi, head of the group of experts on Yemen who ask the warring parties to say a stop to acts of violence against civilians and implore other states to refrain from providing weapons that could be used in the conflict.
In the report, the UN urges the Human Rights Council to renew the mandate of the expert group and suggests that it be extended to include the collection of evidence of possible violations and denounces the inaction of the international community to put an end to such violations and announces to have compiled a confidential list of possible suspected war crimes, handed over to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Read also:
- World Refugee Day: the desperate cry of 8 thousand children fleeing the war
- The life of Syrian children broken by war. Here's what you can do (petition)
Germana Carillo
