Iran-backed Houthis continue recruiting children in Yemen's war

The Iran-backed Houthis continue to recruit and use children in the war-torn country, despite having signed an action plan with the United Nations to protect children and prevent grave violations against them.

Local and international organizations have documented the recruitment of hundreds of children (some of whom have already been killed or wounded) in various governorates of Yemen on the frontlines, camps, checkpoints, military and security personnel and facilities.

In conjunction with the International Day to Combat the Exploitation of Students as Soldiers, the organizations documented the recruitment and use of no less than 83 children, including at least 3 girls, during the year 2022, in light of the relative calm witnessed by the fighting fronts in Yemen, even with the end of the truce in early October.

In recent reports, the organizations noted that last year the Houthis focused on recruiting children and mobilizing in schools, mosques and summer centers in areas under their control, and calling for fighting on the fronts for sectarian motives.

The recruitment of children who did not reach the legal age was concentrated in the capital, Sanaa, Amran, Saada, Dhamar, Hajjah, Mahweet, Raymah, Jawf, Hodeidah, Taiz, Ibb, Marib and Baydha.

The deteriorating economic conditions in the context of the conflict are a major reason for the recruitment of children, as poverty pushes some Yemeni families to recruit their children in search of a source of income that provides the minimum necessary survival needs, or improves the limited source of income for them.

Ignoring International Agreements

The continued recruitment of children since the start of the war confirms the militia’s disregard of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions (1949) in 1977, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2000), the Statute of the Rome Criminal Court (1998) and Yemeni Law No. 45 on Rights of the Child (2002), which expressly prohibits the recruitment of children under the age of 18 or their direct participation in war.

In its final report submitted to the Security Council, the Panel of Experts on Yemen revealed that it had received a list of 1,406 names of children recruited by the Houthis who died on the battlefields in 2020, and also received a list of 562 children recruited by the Houthis who met the same fate between January and May 2021.

The ages of these children, whose pictures were hung in the streets of Sanaa and other governorates, ranged between 10 and 17 years. A large number of them were killed in the governorates of Amran, Dhamar, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Ibb, Saada and Sanaa.

Ideological Reasons and Forcible Recruitment

There are ideological and political reasons behind the recruitment, and they range between showing ideological loyalty (sectarian) to the recruiting party, partisan affiliation with it, and engaging in recruitment motivated by showing support for a political cause.

The psychological determinants come as the weakest of the reasons affecting the recruitment of children, represented by psychological tendencies to bear arms or to imitate adults involved in fighting in some social environments.

Recruitment varies between compulsory (includes recruitment without the consent of the family and recruitment under the direct threat of the family or abduction and recruitment of the child without the knowledge of the family) and voluntary (i.e. with the consent of the child and the family), which indicates the weak resistance of families to recruitment due to the persistence of poor economic conditions, social pressures and ideological mobilization.

The UN action plan, which the militias signed, includes prohibiting the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts, including in support roles.

The action plan also gives six months to identify all children under the age of 18 who are in the ranks of the military and security forces, and calls on the authorities to facilitate their release and reintegration into their communities.

The plan includes provisions to prevent the killing and injury of children, but the Houthis have not adhered to it, and are still working to mobilize children, instill terrorist ideas in their minds, and push them to the frontlines.