A/HRC/12/44 page 14 59. UNICEF has been monitoring the violation of children’s rights by parties to the conflict in Somalia for more than three years. Earlier in 2009, UNICEF commissioned a study on the subject, which was conducted by an independent consultant with an extensive network of contacts inside the various armed groups in Somalia. The information received from these sources indicated the number of children recruited by different armed groups, the training camps and their locations where the children are trained, the methods used, the nationalities of trainers and the kinds of children targeted for recruitment. The recruitment of children by Government forces has been found to be somewhat less systematic, targeting a slightly older age group (14-18 years) than the recruitment patterns of some of the insurgent groups. There is nonetheless evidence of recruitment of children by all sides to the conflict. 6. Economic, social and cultural rights 60. After two decades of conflict, almost two generations of young Somali boys and girls have been denied the benefit of a full education. Existing education systems, already limited in their scope, have been badly affected by the conflict. Somalis have nevertheless managed to organize strong networks of independent and private schooling in many parts of the country, and Government efforts are focused on extending schooling, albeit with extremely limited funding, especially in the case of secondary education. In addition, given the various existing curricula, the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNICEF are working to harmonize them. 61. Many other economic, social and cultural rights have been badly affected by almost two decades of armed conflict in Somalia. Most particularly affected are the rights to work, to health and to well-being of all family members including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services, and the right to culture. 7. Migrants 62. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners in Boosaaso, Puntland, the ongoing fighting in Mogadishu and central Somalia is pushing thousands of Somalis to risk their lives to cross the Gulf of Aden and seek asylum in Yemen. Some 12,000 people are now in Boosaaso and are part of approximately 232,000 Somali internally displaced persons who have been forced to leave their homes since 7 May 2009, when fighting between opposition and Government forces erupted in several districts of the Somali capital. 63. In 2008, more than 50,000 new asylum-seekers had reached the shores of Yemen a 70 per cent increase from 2007. The trend continued during the first six months of 2009, when around 16,500 Somalis arrived in Yemen. More than 1,000 migrants reportedly drowned en route in 2008, either thrown overboard or forced to disembark far from the shore by unscrupulous smugglers. According to UNHCR, by the end of July 2009, almost 300 had died or gone missing. Following the independent expert’s visit to Yemen in early December 2008, he reported on the desperate situation of Somali asylum-seekers crossing the Gulf of Aden in his report to the Council.