The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
As Yemen’s conflict reaches 10-year mark, over half a million children severely malnourished
In Yemen, a decade of conflict has been catastrophic for the country’s children living under the threat of airstrikes and staggeringly high malnutrition rates, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
“We need to move fast,” said UNICEF representative in the country Peter Hawkins. “I was in Hudaydah over the past three days...I went through the western lowlands, where there are people on the streets, on the side of the roads, begging and looking for assistance. They have given up. We cannot give up.”
Speaking from Yemen’s capital Sana’a, Mr. Hawkins told reporters that the “manmade” disaster has decimated Yemen's economy, healthcare system and infrastructure.
“Even during periods of reduced violence, the structural consequences of the conflict, especially for girls and boys, have remained severe,” he said, underscoring that more than half of the country’s population of close to 40 million people relies on humanitarian assistance.
UNICEF supports life-saving health facilities and malnutrition treatment across the country, but its activities are only 25 per cent funded this year. The agency will not be able to sustain even minimal services without urgent resources, Mr. Hawkins warned.
Houthi rebels – formally known as Ansar Allah – have been battling Government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade and overthrew the country’s President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in March 2015.
While a resumption of large-scale ground military operations in Yemen has not occurred since the UN-mediated truce of April 2022, military activity continues. The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned on 6 March in a briefing to the Security Council that the cessation of hostilities is increasingly at risk. Earlier this month the United States launched multiple strikes on Houthi-controlled areas in the country, reportedly in retaliation for the Houthis’ targeting of merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Mr. Hawkins spoke of the damage he witnessed first-hand in the port city of Hudaydah and stressed that eight children died in the most recent airstrikes across northern Yemen.
“Critical ports and roads, lifelines for food and medicine, are damaged and blockaded,” Mr. Hawkins said. Food prices have soared over 300 per cent in the past decade, driving hunger and malnutrition.
The UNICEF official said that one in two children under the age of five is malnourished in Yemen, “a statistic that is almost unparalleled across the world”.
“Among them are over 540,000 girls and boys who are severely and acutely malnourished, a condition that is agonizing, life threatening and entirely preventable,” he added.
Mr. Hawkins highlighted the dangers facing children who cannot access treatment, as they are “away from service delivery in the most remote areas up on the mountains, and deep down in the in the valleys of northern Yemen…Malnutrition weakens immune systems, stunts growth and robs children of their potential.”
Furthermore, some 1.4 million pregnant and lactating women are malnourished in Yemen – “a vicious circle of intergenerational suffering”, Mr. Hawkins said.
In certain areas including the west of the country, severe and acute malnutrition rates of 33 per cent have been recorded.
“It's not a humanitarian crisis. It's not an emergency. It is a catastrophe where thousands will die,” Mr. Hawkins concluded.
-Ends-
STORY: Yemen 10 years of war – UNICEF 25 March 2025
TRT: 3:00”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 25 MARCH 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “This catastrophe is not natural. It is manmade. Over a decade of conflict has decimated Yemen's economy, healthcare system and infrastructure. Even during periods of reduced violence, the structural consequences of the conflict, especially for girls and boys, have remained severe. More than half the population relies on humanitarian assistance.”
4. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screen.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “We need to move fast. I was in Hodeidah over the past three days, the port city. I went through the western lowlands, where there are people on the streets, on the side of the roads, begging and looking for assistance. They have given up. We cannot give up.”
6. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “I saw for myself yesterday an enormously damaged property, which injured in the bombing, yesterday, injured three children. Eight children have died in the most recent airstrikes across northern Yemen.”
8. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Critical ports and roads, lifelines for food and medicine, are damaged and blockaded.”
10. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “One in two children under the age of five are malnourished in Yemen today - a statistic that is almost unparalleled across the world. Among them are over 540,000 girls and boys who are severely and acutely malnourished, a condition that is agonizing, life threatening and entirely preventable.”
12. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Malnutrition weakens immune systems, stunts growth and robs children of their potential. Equally alarming are the 1.4 million pregnant and lactating women who are malnourished.”
14. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Peter Hawkins, Yemen Representative, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “We've seen figures of 33 per cent severe and acute malnutrition in certain areas, especially on the west coast, which is where I was in Hodeidah. And that is on the verge of, I mean, a catastrophe. It's not a humanitarian crisis. It's not an emergency. It is a catastrophe where thousands will die.”
16. Various shots of speakers and journalists in the Press room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Somalia: child hunger surges as humanitarian aid dries up – UNICEF
The global funding crisis for vital lifesaving work is taking a growing toll on the most vulnerable children in Somalia, where hundreds of health and nutrition facilities have been forced to close, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
As the deadliest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo’s history continued spreading on Friday, UN responders renewed their urgent appeal for immediate international support, with existing funding for lifesaving work critically low.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: In the fight against Ebola, bikers transporting dead bodies hold key to community engagement - WHO
From the frontlines of the deadliest-ever Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) shared details on Tuesday of a massive push for community engagement, a day after yet another ambulance attack.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA
Sudan: The harrowing reality of giving birth in a war zone
Sudanese women about to give birth are losing their babies and sometimes their own lives because of a lack of specialist healthcare support, amid the ongoing war, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Colombia earthquake: International teams ready to support, says UN
As earthquake rescue efforts across western Colombia continued on Tuesday, UN agencies said that they stood ready to help “with everything we've got” if and when the request came from the authorities.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | HRC
Myanmar's military has carried out a sustained campaign of deliberate attacks on civilians – including airstrikes on homes, schools and camps for displaced people, alongside arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence – Human Rights Council-appointed investigators said on Tuesday.
1
6
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
In a new twist on panda diplomacy, UN Geneva welcomed five young peacocks to the Palace of Nations on Friday, a gift of India that preserves a tradition of keeping the stately birds in the grounds, that predates both the global body and its ill-fated predecessor, the League of Nations.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Afghanistan’s hunger crisis intensifies as millions go without food aid – WFP
Afghanistan’s dire hunger crisis now affects 14 million people including babies fed on weak tea and a little bread by their despairing and dirt-poor parents.
In a new alert on Tuesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that one in three Afghans is now in the grip of acute food insecurity and that it lacks the resources to contain the deepening crisis.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM
From fake jobs to forced crime: IOM sounds alarm on human trafficking behind online scams
A job offer can conceal a criminal network and a single click can lead to a nightmare. Lured by false promises of legitimate employment abroad, hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked each year, held captive and forced to carry out online scams.
Ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons marked on 30 July, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is raising the alarm over a rapidly expanding multibillion-dollar criminal industry that turns job seekers into victims of forced cybercrime.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In Sudan’s El Obeid, women risk drone attacks by day and rape by night to access water
As war intensifies in the city of El Obeid in North Kordofan state, filling up a jerrycan of water comes at a high risk for women and girls: by day, drones strike water points and by night, women who venture out to fill a bucket risk rape. UN Women warns of a dual terror that has turned access to water into a deadly gamble.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokesperson Shabia Mantoo made the following remarks on stranded Hormuz seafarers abandoned for months at sea, at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Danielle Bell, head of UN Human Rights’ Ukraine team, spoke of the deepening impact of the war on the civilian population.