UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador calls for urgent help for Yemeni children

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Mahmoud Kabil issued an urgent call today for assistance for children caught up in the clashes between Government forces and rebels rocking northern Yemen.

“I saw children on the brink of death due to acute malnutrition and dehydration,” said Mr. Kabil, an Egyptian actor, who has just wrapped up a three-day visit to Yemen, where he met with children affected by the fighting.

He said the situation was the worst he has seen since becoming UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa in 2003, and “not when I was in Darfur five years back, or anywhere in this region.”

During his trip, Mr. Kabil visited Al Mazrak camp in Hajjah governorate, roughly 20 kilometres from the Sa’ada governorate, where the conflict is raging. People continue to stream into the area around the camp, which lacks basic infrastructure.

Over 50,000 people have been uprooted since the fighting between the Government and Al Houthi rebels resumed in earnest in August, bringing the total number of people forced from their homes since the conflict first started in 2004 to 150,000.

In addition to those who have escaped the clashes, thousands of people are still trapped in Sa’ada, with little humanitarian assistance.

“I call on parties involved in the conflict to search their soul and conscience,” the Goodwill Ambassador, who also met with Yemeni officials while in the country, said. “The death and suffering of these children is killing your future and that of your country.”

Last week, along with another fellow UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the United States actress Mia Farrow, Mr. Kabil visited to Gaza to witness first-hand the hardships children still face nine months after the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.

They heard testimony from children who are now forced to work in tunnels to support their struggling families. The tunnels are used to smuggle in goods that are otherwise unavailable in Gaza. Unemployment rates are above 40 per cent and eight out of 10 families in Gaza rely on some form of food assistance.

The visit to Gaza was the second leg of a journey to the occupied Palestinian territory for Mr. Kabil, who was in the West Bank during the month of Ramadan to show support for Palestinian children and families during the holy month.

“I am happy to finally be able to visit the children of Gaza and express my solidarity with their families for the suffering they are enduring on a daily basis,” he said. “The blockade and the recent fighting have left an indelible impact on children. Palestinian children have the same rights as all children everywhere and these rights need to be upheld.”