UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP)::Yemen’s education system has been devastated by the country’s brutal conflict, the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday, reporting that at least half a million children have dropped
out of school since the 2015 escalation of the war.
“An entire generation of children in Yemen faces a bleak future because of limited or no access to
education,” Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen, said. “Even those who remain in
school are not getting the quality education they need.”
According to “If Not In School,” the total number of out-of-school children now stands at 2 million,
and almost three quarters of public school teachers have not been paid their salaries in over a
year, putting the education of an additional 4.5 million children at grave risk.
More than 2,500 schools are out of use, with two thirds damaged by attacks, 27 per cent closed
and 7 per cent used for military purposes or as shelters for displaced people, the UN said.
Children risk being killed on their way to school. Fearing for their children’s safety, many parents
choose to keep their children at home.
The lack of access to education has pushed children and families to dangerous alternatives,
including early marriage, child labour and recruitment into the fighting.
UNICEF appeals to the warring parties, those who have influence on them, government
authorities and donors to put an end to the war, pay teachers, protect children’s education
unconditionally, and increase funding for education.
On 26 March 2015, a coalition of countries intervened militarily at the request of President
Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to secure the return of the Government to Sana’a, which had been
seized by Houthi militias and allied units of the armed forces when the conflict initially erupted
in 2014.
Three years on, the fighting is still raging and the ensuing humanitarian crisis has only
deepened in a country that was already one of the region’s poorest.
The UN, through its envoy, has been engaged in helping Yemenis to find a peaceful
solution. UN agencies and partners are also on the ground to deliver life-saving aid.

BEIJING, March 28 (APP):The Chinese archaeologists joined an excavation of ancient seaside ruins known as al-Serrian in Saudi Arabia.
Located at the southwest tip of the Arabian Peninsula, al-Serrian was one of the major gateways for Hajj pilgrims to Makkah and played an important role as a trade hub leading to the north, according to a local newspaper here on Wednesday.
As many as five archaeologists, from the National Center of Underwater Cultural Heritage under the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, will take part in the excavation of the ruins until April 13.
According to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, six Saudi archaeologists will work alongside the Chinese experts to explore the Saudi port ruins on the Red Sea.
With the support of the governments of both countries, the team will make use of high-tech equipment such as mapping, aerial drones, and digital surveys, as well as 3D modeling during the project.
Cooperation on studying and researching the finds from the excavation will continue for a period of five years.
Jiang Bo, the team leader for the Chinese archaeologists, explained that according to ancient travelogues al-Serrian used to be a busy port with mosques, markets and residential areas during the 13th century.
It is believed the port was a major trade point along the ancient Maritime Silk Road.
The Maritime Silk Road was an ancient route that connected China to Southeast Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP):More than 1,700 people have reportedly been killed in military operations and airstrikes on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave in Syria since late February, the United Nations aid chief has said, describing the past few months of relentless bloodshed as “some of the worst yet” for civilians inside the war-torn country.
Mark Lowcock, who is the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said attacks on critical civilian infrastructure like medical facilities continue to be reported with at least 28 reported attacks on health facilities since mid-February and more than 70 verified incidents since the beginning of this year.
“Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced from across the war-ravaged country and many are living in overcrowded, ill-equipped shelters. There is also a severe shortage of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, as well as rising protection concerns,” he said.
Lowcock told the 15-member Council that UN agencies and their partners are working as hard as conditions permit to provide support to people in need.
Challenges range from physical security for aid workers, continued fighting, denial of access, and lack of resources.
“We are essentially just given crumbs “an occasional convoy here and there, often, coincidentally, shortly before our monthly briefings to you” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said.
“We are essentially just given crumbs “an occasional convoy here and there, often, coincidentally, shortly before our monthly briefings to you [the Security Council members],” said the senior relief official.
As such, he said: “5.6 million Syrians in acute need cannot live on crumbs.”
Lowcock called on all Council Members as well as the members of the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian Task Force “the UN-backed task force created two years ago to boost aid delivery to besieged towns and war-weary civilians“ to exert their individual and collective influence over the parties.
He also reiterated the UN Secretary-General’s call on all parties to fully respect international humanitarian and human rights law, to ensure immediate humanitarian access and guarantee the protection of civilians, including in relation to displacements and evacuations.
Concluding his briefing, the UN relief chief recalled Security Council resolution 2401 adopted last month
“in which the Council demanded an immediate cease in hostilities and conditions that to enable humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations of those in need“ and called on the UN body to make the resolution a reality for the people of Syria.
“Whatever the difficulty, the United Nations and its partners, remain determined to follow through, for the sake of the Syrian people,” Lowcock said.
The seemingly unending conflict in Syria has surpassed World War II in terms of duration.
Since the conflict broke out in March 2011, more than 13 million Syrians remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, including 6.1 million internally displaced and over 5.5 million driven into refuge outside its borders. Furthermore, a third of houses and residences across the country and about half of all health facilities are estimated to have been destroyed.
More than 2.75 million children are out of school and about two-thirds of all Syrian children have lost a loved one, had their house damaged or suffered conflict-related injuries.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP):Pakistan, which firmly opposes additional permanent members on the U.N. Security Council, has called for equitable representation on the 15-member body by adding more elected seats to it.
Speaking in the long-running Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council reform, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said that equitable “representation” has been the primary impulse behind all Security Council reform efforts, and its importance cannot be over-stated.
“In 1945, the Security Council represented 20% of the membership of the UN; today, it represents 8% of the membership”, she asserted, also pointing out that nearly a third of the membership has never served on the Council.
Full-scale negotiations to restructure the Security Council began in the General Assembly in February 2009 on five key areas “categories of membership, the question of veto, regional representation, size of an enlarged Council, and working methods of the body and its relationship with the 193-member Assembly.
Despite a general agreement on enlarging the Council, as part of the UN reform process, member states remain sharply divided over the details.
Known as the “Group of Four” — India, Brazil, Germany and Japan — have shown no flexibility in their campaign for expanding the Security Council by 10 seats, with 6 additional permanent and four non-permanent members.
On the other hand, Italy/Pakistan-led Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group say that additional permanent members will not make the Security Council more effective.
As a compromise, UfC has proposed a new category of members — not permanent members — with longer duration in terms and a possibility to get re-elected once.
Arguing that representativeness and accountability were two sides of the same coin, Ambassador Lodhi said, the greater the accountability, the better the representativeness and added that one cannot co-exist without the other.
“Applied in the context of the Security Council, it is evident that these conditions cannot be met by an expansion in the permanent category”, the Pakistani envoy stressed. “This is acknowledged by UN charter itself, wherein permanent members are identified by name without creating any pretense of regional or equitable distribution”, she argued.
Criticizing the Group of Four position, Ambassador Lodhi said, “Without prejudice to the Common African Position for representation on behalf of an entire region, we are at a loss to understand how proposals that seek to promote the national aspirations of some member states, can enhance the representative nature of the Security Council, when the region in question, has neither bestowed that privilege on them, nor does it enjoy the right to hold them to account”.
On the other hand, she said, it is the non-permanent category where the elements of equitable representation are embedded; elections and geographical distribution in article 23(1) of the UN Charter, and a specific term with rotation in article 23(2). Separate these two articles and the concept of representation goes out of the window, she said.
In conclusion, Ambassador Lodhi expressed Pakistan’s commitment to constructive and meaningful engagement in carrying forward this process. But, she said, the process itself has to be a membership-driven one. She urged the chair to ensure that the process remains on a consensual and inclusive path to achieve the progress everyone wants to see.