Third of Yemen fighters are children: UNICEF

April 09, 2015 21:49

Children make up a third of fighters in the armed groups in conflict-wracked Yemen, a UN official said today, also warning that malnutrition levels in the country were set to explode.

"We are seeing children in battle, at check-points and unfortunately among (those) killed and injured," Julien Harneis, UNICEF's representative in Yemen, told AFP during a stop in Geneva.

Staff of the United Nations children's agency and its partners had estimated that around 30 per cent of fighters in the armed groups were minors, he said.

In Yemen's tribal culture, it is common for boys to take up arms at a young age -- something that is having dire consequences amid the spiralling conflict.

"You can say that up to a third of fighters in the armed groups in Yemen are children," Harneis said.

Saudi-led forces launched air strikes last month as Shiite Huthi rebels advanced on Yemen's main southern city of Aden after seizing the capital.

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