A student has described how Yemenis’ lives have been paused by the presence of landmines across the country.
Asmaa al-Shawafi, a student at the Faculty of Education in Bayhan, told Project Masam that landmines have had a huge impact on society, the economy, the environment, and life in general and that Yemen has suffered from all the extended consequences of landmines.
The student noted that the fact that the majority of victims of landmines are not linked to the war, or to any warring party.
Al-shawafi added that the spread of the indiscriminately planted landmines has disrupted the educational and agricultural life in her district, especially since students were unable to attend school and farmers could no longer tend to their farms.
This issue has been further aggravated after torrents swept away landmines to residential areas – in a phenomenon described as migrating landmines.
By manufacturing and camouflaging different types of landmines, the Houthi militias target children, the student claimed, highlighting how many children had been either injured or killed by landmines in her district.
The student alleged children had picked up “strange objects to play with”, and had been killed.
Al-Shawfi thanks Project Masam’s teams for their sacrifices and dedication, as well as their humanitarian landmine clearance efforts to keep Yemenis safe.
