Project Masam, in collaboration with the Mayyun Organisation for Human Rights, has held a photography exhibition in Yemen’s temporary capital, Aden, to highlight patterns of violations against children, including victims of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and victims of child recruitment on Thursday (26 October).
The exhibition, titled “Together We Move to Protect Children from the Danger of Conflict” displayed photographs illustrating the grave violations that children in Yemen have been subjected to for several years due to landmines planted indiscriminately and intensively by the Houthi militias, as well as images of victims of child recruitment in the Houthi ranks, as evidenced by the Yemeni human rights organisation.
The exhibition was attended by Colonel Mohammed Al-Anzi, the representative of the Arab Coalition forces in Aden, Ahmed Al-Madkhali, Director of the Yemen Reconstruction Office, Saleh Al-Thaibani, Director of the Office of The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Khaled Al-Shehri, Director of the Operations Department of the Aden General Hospital, and Brigadier General Qaid Haitham Halboub, Director of the Executive Center for Mine Action in Aden.
Thousands of children killed by landmines
In the opening speech, Project Masam’s Assistant Managing Director, Qasim Al-Dossari, said that the project seeks to advocate for children’s rights in Yemen, which have been abused across the country through the extensive use of landmines against civilian populations.
Al-Dossari also added that the number of mines and IED fatalities among children in Yemen has reached 2,400, whereas the number of children wounded by landmines has reached 4,300, stressing that these numbers could higher as many cases go unreported.
The Assistant Managing Director added that Project Masam cleared 419,309 landmines, IEDs, and other unexploded ordnance, while the total area that the project’s demining teams have cleared reached 50,691,324 square metres.
Adel bin Abdullah al-Nughaimish, assistant to the Saudi Political and Military Team to support Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said that the delegates felt pain when witnessing first hand the violations against children in Yemen, whether from the presence of landmines or by the enrolment of children by Houthi militias to fight on the frontlines.
Major General Taher Ali Al-Aqili, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Yemen for the Armed Forces, said that the exhibition was a humanitarian message to save civilians in Yemen from the danger of IEDs and landmines, and thanked Project Masam teams and all those in charge of the project for their efforts to end the danger posed by explosive items in Yemen, and secure the lives of Yemenis from these deadly devices.
