Child soldiering continues despite Houthi promise

CAIRO (AP):

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are still recruiting children into their military ranks to fight in the country’s grinding civil war, despite an agreement with the United Nations in April to halt the practice, Houthi officials, aid workers and residents told AP.

Two Houthi officials told the AP that the rebels recruited several hundred children, including those as young as 10 years over the past two months. They have been deployed to front lines as part of a build-up of forces taking place during a UN-brokered truce, which has held since April, one official said.

The officials, both hard-liners within the Houthi movement, said they see nothing wrong with the practice, arguing that boys from 10 or 12 are considered men.

“Those are not children. They are true men, who should defend their nation against the Saudi, American aggression, and defend the Islamic nation,” one of them said. The two spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid friction with other Houthi leaders.

The Houthis have used what they call “summer camps” to disseminate their religious ideology and to recruit boys to fight. Such camps take place in schools and mosques around the Houthi-held part of Yemen, which encompasses the north and centre of the country and the capital, Sanaa.

Yemen’s conflict erupted in 2014 when the Houthis descended from their northern enclave and took over Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government to flee to the south. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power, waging a destructive air campaign and arming anti-Houthi forces.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including more than 14,500 civilians and has plunged the country into near-famine, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Child soldiers have been involved in Yemen’s war for years. Nearly 2,000 Houthi-recruited children were killed on the battlefield between January 2020 and May 2021, according to UN experts. Pro-government forces have also used child fighters but to a much lesser degree and have taken greater measures to halt the practice, according to UN and aid officials.

Overall, the UN said over 10,200 children have been killed or maimed in the war, though it is unclear how many may have been combatants.

In April, the rebels signed what the UN children’s agency described as an “action plan” to end and prevent the practice. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the rebels committed to identifying children in their ranks and releasing them within six months.

UNICEF did not respond to requests for comment on the continued recruitment since, nor did spokesmen for the Houthi administration. The Houthis have in the past officially denied enlisting children to fight.