Rights reports reveal Houthi militias recruited over 10,000 children in 8 years.

Houthi militias child recruitment

Recent human rights reports have unveiled that the Houthi militias, backed by the Iranian regime, have recruited more than 10,000 children between 2014 and 2021. The United Nations has verified at least 1,851 individual cases of child recruitment or use by the Houthis since 2010, highlighting a grave concern in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.

The Mechanism of Recruitment

The Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations (YCMHRV) shared insights in a report, indicating that the Houthis managed to recruit around 30 young individuals, including 10 children from Al-Adhbah village in the Mabin district of Hajjah governorate. The report emphasized that the summer vacation was not ordinary this year; months before, children became targets of Houthi propaganda, attracting them to training camps. The Houthis also exploited the Gaza war to recruit children to fight their adversaries within the country.

The report detailed the recruitment operations and the exploitation of the victims’ ideological backgrounds, economic hardships, and marginalization. The Houthis descended into rural areas, holding educational lectures to encourage children to join their ranks, offering financial incentives to economically struggling families, predominantly poor farmers.

Exploitation of Educational and Religious Institutions

Muthar Al-Badheiji, the Executive Director of YCMHRV, stated that the monitoring and documentation of child recruitment violations are conducted through field visits, interviews with victims’ families and witnesses, and open-source monitoring. The Houthis used schools, mosques, and summer centers to attract and recruit children, employing a network of supervisors and recruiters and allocating significant funds to influence the children.

Since October of the previous year, the Houthis capitalized on the Gaza war, enrolling thousands of children in intensive training courses over three months. They leveraged the intensive propaganda surrounding the Gaza conflict to recruit as many children as possible, ostensibly to send them to various frontlines under the pretext of fighting against Israel and supporting Gaza and Palestine.

Legal Framework against Child Recruitment

Yemeni legislation prohibits the recruitment of children, their involvement in armed conflicts, or engagement in military activities, even under normal circumstances, with penalties for violators. However, a United Nations experts’ team reported last year that the majority of child recruitment violations investigated were linked to the Houthis, who continue to recruit and use children, especially in summer camps.

Despite a ceasefire announced in April 2022, YCMHRV documented the recruitment and use of about 40 children by the Houthis between the ceasefire announcement and the signing of a principle agreement to end the conflict in December 2023. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms, part of the “Justice for Yemen Alliance,” the Houthis recruited over 10,000 children from 2014 to 2021, raising significant concerns about child welfare and the future of these young individuals in Yemen.

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