UN: 73% of displaced Yemenis are women and children

A woman and her daughters sit outside their tent at a camp for internally displaced people near Sanaa Yemen on 15 August 2016 [REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah – S1AETVPSRGAA]

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Yemen said yesterday that as many as 73 per cent of the displaced people in Yemen are women and children. UNOCHA made its comment on Twitter to mark International Women’s Day.

“The prolonged conflict displaced 4 million people,” it tweeted. “73 per cent of them are women & children. However, women show remarkable resilience, increasingly becoming providers for their families.”

The UN agency called for people to “stand up for women’s rights and fight for an equal future.”

READ: UN warns Yemenis fleeing clashes face hunger risk

Yemen has been embroiled in a war for seven years between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces backed by troops from a Saudi-led coalition which includes the UAE.

The war has displaced millions of people and brought the country to the verge of famine in what has been described by the UN as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

MBS and MBZ bloody Yemeni war – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

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