Sana’a – Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni:

The Executive Mine Action Center revealed that martyrdom and injury of 228 people by mines, cluster bombs, and remnants of war during the year 2024.

The Center stated in statistics obtained by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) that these dangerous remnants led to the martyrdom of 66 people and the injury of 162, mostly children. The governorates of Hudaydah, Sana’a, and Al-Jawf were among the governorates with the highest number of victims.

It pointed out that despite this large number of documented and verified victims, the Executive Center for Dealing with Mines has been almost suspended from work since the transfer of the mine file to the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen in June 2023.

It explained that no support has been provided for mine-related activities by the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, despite the inclusion of the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2024, as mine-related activities were excluded from any support during the past year, apart from the limited support the Center was able to obtain from some international non-governmental organizations, which does not cover 2% of the total massive pollution in most governorates.

The Center called on the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen and humanitarian partners to take responsibility in designating one of the UN agencies to manage and support the removal of mines, cluster bombs, and remnants of war for humanitarian purposes and to protect and save the lives of civilians under international humanitarian law, conventions, and protocols, and to provide support to the National Committee for Mine Action and its executive body during 2025 to enable them to protect civilian lives as a humanitarian and national act, away from political tensions and interferences.