Entisaf Organization condemns escalation of Saudi aggression raids, targeting of schools & civilian objects

The Entisaf Organization for Women’s and Children’s Rights condemned the continued escalation of the Saudi aggression on a number of governorates, which during the past hours included a series of airstrikes and artillery shelling, and the targeting of civilian objects and service facilities.

The organization also condemned in a statement received by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) the crime that led to the martyrdom of a girl as a result of a mortar shell fired by the mercenaries of the Saudi aggression on Al-Talilah village in Maqbanah District in Taiz Governorate, considering that the fall of children as victims of bombing constitutes a grave violation of children’s rights, and requires investigation and accountability.

The statement pointed out that the number of child victims during 12 years of aggression on Yemen has reached about ten thousand children, martyred and wounded.

It affirmed that targeting schools, civilian facilities, and telecommunications networks represents a dangerous violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, which prohibit targeting civilians and civilian objects, noting that targeting educational facilities threatens children’s right to education and their safety, and doubles the risks they face amid the continuation of the aggression and siege.

The Entisaf Organization warned of the continuation of the Saudi aggression and the siege imposed on the Yemeni people for 12 years, and the direct threat they pose to the lives of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure and basic services, and serious humanitarian, psychological, and social repercussions, especially on women, children, and the most vulnerable groups.

It demanded ensuring accountability and reckoning for grave violations of international humanitarian law, and not allowing their perpetrators to escape punishment, calling for the protection of civilians and civilian objects, and strict adherence to the principles of distinction and proportionality.

It also demanded that the United Nations and international bodies concerned with human rights assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities toward what civilians in Yemen are being subjected to, work to document these violations, and take the necessary legal measures to ensure justice for victims and reparation for their damages.

The organization renewed its affirmation that targeting children, schools, and civilian facilities and endangering the lives of children and civilians are crimes that should not pass without accountability, and that protecting civilians, foremost among them women and children, is a legal and humanitarian obligation that may not be neglected.