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February 15, 2019

Over 10,000 children were killed or maimed in 2017 by bombing in war areas and 100,000 newborns die each year from direct and indirect causes of wars, such as disease and malnutrition.

These are just some of the data presented by Save the Children in its new report 'Stop the war on children' which denounces, among other things, the use by the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen to hit civilian targets of bombs also produced in Italy.   



420 million children - one in five in the world - are living in conflict zones, over 30 million more in 2016 and double since the end of the Cold War, and 4.5 million have risked dying of hunger in the ten countries involved in the bloodiest wars: Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria and Somalia.   



Asia, place with the greatest conflict areas


In absolute terms, Asia is the place where the most children live in conflict areas, around 195 million.

In percentage terms, however, the primacy belongs to the Middle East with 40 percent of children living in war zones, equal to 35 million.

In Yemen alone, 85,000 children under the age of five have died of starvation or serious illness since the conflict began three years ago.

"It is shocking - explained Valerio Neri, director general of Save the Children - that in the 21st century we are backtracking on such simple principles and moral standards: protecting children and civilians should be an imperative, yet children are attacked every day, because armed groups and military forces violate international laws and treaties.  



The violated rights of children


There are countless violations of the rights of children who have had the misfortune of being born in war zones and the UN Security Council has identified six very serious categories ranging from '' killing and mutilation to the recruitment of child soldiers especially in countries such as the Central African Republic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from sexual violence to kidnappings, attacks on schools and hospitals up to the denial of access to humanitarian aid. the Children based on UN reports, the number of child rights violations

in 2017 it was 25,000, the highest number ever recorded.



War in Yemen


About 6,500 children have been killed or wounded in Yemen since the conflict between Saudi-backed loyalists and Houthi Shiite rebels three years ago.

And the evidence collected in the country documents that some remains of the bombs that exploded in civilian areas, on houses and villages with children, carry the code A4447 which leads to a weapons factory in Sardinia, the RWM.

This was reported by Save the Children, which launches a petition to ask "the Minister of Foreign Affairs to immediately stop the export, supply and transfer of weapons materials to the Saudi Coalition, weapons that kill Yemeni children and that even when they survive, they destroy their future ".   



"We cannot be complicit in the deaths of thousands of defenseless civilians and children by selling weapons to countries that blatantly violate international law and children's rights", explains Valerio Neri.

RWM ITalia SpA, the Report states, is an arms factory part of the German industrial conglomerate of Rheinmetall.

The main activity is the production of anti-mine systems, ammunition and warheads of medium and large caliber.

The company has its registered office in Ghedi (Brescia) and its production plant in Domusnovas, in the province of Carbonia-Iglesias, in Sardinia.



The use of Italian-made 500 to 2000 pound MK series bombs by the Saudi Air Force is confirmed by the UN commissioned expert group's final report on Yemen.