The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that around 79,000 children had been displaced in western Yemen, among more than 145,000 people forced to leave their areas between 3 and 28 September amid escalating military confrontations and shifting front lines in several areas. In a report published on platform X, the organisation said the renewed conflict and changing front lines across western Yemen had deepened an already worsening humanitarian crisis.
It said fighting in Taiz, Hudaydah, the western coast and surrounding areas had forced families to flee again after leaving behind their homes, property and livelihoods. According to the organisation’s figures, more than 145,000 people were displaced between 3 and 28 September, including an estimated 79,000 children.
UNICEF warns of widening humanitarian needs
The number of children represents more than half of the total number of people displaced during that period cited in the report, although the organisation did not provide a detailed breakdown by affected area. UNICEF warned that the latest escalation comes amid difficult humanitarian conditions in Yemen, where the humanitarian needs of the population are among the highest in the world.
It said more than 12 million children in the country needed humanitarian assistance, while the conflict had damaged health and education services and access to safe water. In its account of conditions facing displaced people in Yemen’s western Taiz governorate, the organisation said families were currently living in overcrowded camps and struggling to access clean water, healthcare and other basic services.
Taiz camps lack basic services
It added that many families arrived at displacement sites carrying nothing more than the clothes they were wearing when they left their areas. The report said humanitarian assistance remained a vital lifeline for children and family members as the conflict continued to displace people in different parts of western Yemen.
It said those affected had endured repeated displacement, disrupted education and healthcare services, and the loss of income sources over the past several years. Clashes between government forces and the Houthis have intensified since the beginning of September in several areas of western Yemen, resulting in deaths and injuries and the displacement of large numbers of people. This comes as Yemen faces a humanitarian and economic crisis described as one of the worst in the world.
