Ousama, 12, sells chewing gum on the streets of Sanaa, while his 10-year-old sister, Bushra works on selling a cooking herb. At the end of the day, they return home with barely enough money to support their mother and younger sister, Amira, 4. Ousama is one of thousands of Yemeni children who have flooded the streets of the capital and other regions controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militias. Ousama and his family have been displaced from al-Tahita in Hodeidah to Sanaa after their father was killed in Houthi shelling on their residential neighborhood. The children now have no choice but to act as the family breadwinners. Ousama’s mother told Asharq Al-Awsat that she was not proud that her children have been forced to work, but displacement and misfortune have given her no choice. She revealed that she has tried to find a job, but the prospects are bleak for women in Sanaa. She is grateful for the charitable aid she receives, which is barely enough to buy household necessities and pay the rent. She complained of the high cost of living in Sanaa, where aid only covers 60 percent of the family’s daily needs. Child workers on the street are victims of Houthi exploitation and harassment. The militias force them to pay a “fee” for their “war effort”, revealed child protection agencies. The future looks bleak for Ousama and his family as long as a political solution for the Yemen crisis remains out of reach. Another child, 12, has been forced to work on the streets after his father was left crippled by a Houthi mortar shell. His family was forced to move to Sanaa to “earn a living.” The hardships his family endured forced him to leave school and work to support them, he told Asharq Al-Awsat. His mother suffers from a chronic illness. Moussa is another child who was forced, along with his family, to move to Sanaa. They fled the siege imposed on Taiz in 2017. Moussa, 10, also works on the street. He said that at the end of the day, he gives all the money he earns to his father, who is unemployed. “Had my father had a job, he would not have made me work and instead put me back in school,” he said. Official records show that over 400,000 children, between the ages of 10 and 14, are forced to work in Yemen. The majority of them are boys at 55.8 percent. The International Labor Organization said that some 34.3 percent of children aged between 5 and 17 work in Yemen and the numbers are constantly on the rise. Some 1.4 million children in Yemen are deprived of their most basic rights, demanding that international action be taken to address the issue of child workers. Amjad, who works for a relief agency in Sanaa, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the number of displaced in Sanaa increased noticeably in recent months. The newcomers are mostly from Hodeidah and Taiz and their growing numbers has increased the burden on relief efforts. The newcomers often come from areas that witness heavy attacks by the Houthi militias. Children who have not been able to find work often fall prey to the Houthis, who force them to join their ranks and head to the battlefronts. The United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba said that the agency has documented 20 locations where children are exploited in Yemen. She confirmed that the Houthis are recruiting them as soldiers and using them as human shields. Some 850 children have been taken out of schools and forced to join the armed conflict. UNICEF said that some 2 million children are unable to go to school, warning that their suffering will continue as long as the war continues to rage.