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STORY: GENEVA / YEMEN CASUALTIES
TRT: 01:22
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / RECENT
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
19 SEPTEMBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are very disturbed that civilians including children continue to be killed in attacks carried out by both the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and army units loyal to the former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as by the Saudi-led coalition.”
4. Med shot, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Just over the past five days, we have confirmed that three children died and seven others were injured in attacks by Houthi/Saleh forces in the Salah district of the city of Taizz. While a coalition airstrike in Marib killed a further five children along with seven adults.”
6. Wide shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“All these incidents demonstrate the horrific impact on children and families, and all the civilians in Yemen, of the ongoing brutal war there.”
8. Medium shot, journalists
9. Close up, journalist
10. Medium shot, journalists
The UN Human Rights office (OHCHR) today (19 Sep) reiterated its call to the warring parties in Yemen to cease "all indiscriminate attacks" against civilians, saying that it is "very disturbed" by the continued killing of children by all sides.
OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters today in Geneva, Switzerland “we are very disturbed that civilians including children continue to be killed in attacks carried out by both the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and army units loyal to the former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as by the Saudi-led coalition.”
Colville said “just over the past five days, we have confirmed that three children died and seven others were injured in attacks by Houthi/Saleh forces in the Salah district of the city of Taizz. While a coalition airstrike in Marib killed a further five children along with seven adults.”
According to OHCHR, the deaths in Taizz occurred on 15 September around 17:00 hrs local time when two mortar shells were fired at civilian areas, apparently in indiscriminate attacks by Houthi/Saleh forces.
The first mortar shell hit a house in the Shab al Dhuba area, killing two children and injuring two others as they played in the street. Fifteen minutes later, a second shell hit a road in Al-Sameil Market neighbourhood in the Hawdh Al-Ashraf area, about 400 metres away. OHCHR reports that children were again in the area and one child was killed as he returned home with groceries, while five others are reported to have been injured.
In both cases witnesses consulted by OHCHR believe that the mortar shells were fired from positions controlled by Houthi/Saleh forces and say that there were no military objectives or armed groups in the areas. OHCHR reports that the nearest military site appears to have been an administration office approximately 300-400 metres away from the location where one of the shells exploded.
According to OHCHR, the coalition airstrike that took place the following day on September 16 in Harib Al Qaramish district in Marib, also left children dead. OHCHR reports that five children, four women and three men from the same extended family were killed when their vehicle was hit by an airstrike around 16:50 hrs local time. According to OHCHR, all the occupants of the vehicle were civilians and there were no survivors.
Colville said “all these incidents demonstrate the horrific impact on children and families, and all the civilians in Yemen, of the ongoing brutal war there.”
He added that “once again, we urge all sides to exercise restraint and to cease all indiscriminate attacks and take all possible precautions to properly distinguish military objectives from civilian objects and to ensure that their attacks are never directed either at civilians or civilian objects.”
As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, noted in his speech to the Human Rights Council last week, coalition airstrikes continue to be the leading cause of civilian casualties, including of children. The total number of civilian casualties verified by OHCHR since March 2015 is estimated to be 13,920, including 5,159 people killed and 8,761 injured. However according to OHCHR, the actual number of civilians killed is likely to be far higher.
