(UN News Centre) – With intensive bombardments and street fighting in Yemen forcing more than 3,600 schools across the country to close and disrupting education for some 1.8 million children, the top United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official there appealed today to the warring parties to respect the safety of schools. “Giving Yemen’s children an education is crucial for their own futures as well as those of their families and communities,” Julien Harneis, UNICEF Representative in Yemen said in a press statement issued in the capital, Sana’a. “We are doing all we can to return children to school so that they don’t completely lose out on their education,” Mr. Harneis said. “We urge the parties to the conflict to respect the safety of schools so as to give children a chance to learn.”
