The Organization of Mayyun for Human Rights and Development in Yemen revealed the killing of 640 Yemeni children who had been recruited by the Houthi militia during the first half of 2021.

This was stated in its first human rights report issued yesterday, Sunday, which talks about the victims of child recruitment in Yemen, which came under the title “Children, not guns.”

The human rights report made it clear that the ages of the victims ranged between 13 and 17 years, and that the militia had recruited 13 children in the so-called war media. And all of these children were buried in public burial processions that were broadcast by the media of the coup militia after these children were introduced forcibly in the battlefronts. The organization considered this act a flagrant violation of international covenants, national laws, commitments and pledges, in addition to this militia's rejection of all international calls aimed at stopping the recruitment of children.

The organization warned of the danger of recruitment carried out by the Houthi militia, declaring that Sana'a, Dhamar and Hajjah are at the forefront of the list of child deaths, with 333 children out of a total of 15 governorates covered by monitoring operations, unlike the dead whose names have not been announced. And the organization estimated the number of wounded at about 3,400 children, according to information from hospitals in the Capital Municipality and the governorates under the control of the militia and the so-called institution for the care of the wounded.

Shocking numbers:

The organization pointed out that children are subjected to a horrific massacre in these governorates and Yemen in general, explaining that the percentage of victims of child recruitment in Saada has fallen to sixth place compared to child victims in 2020.

And the organization announced that its team documented the involvement of 125 leaders of the Houthi group in the recruitment of children, at foremost of which the brother of the militia leader Yahya Badr al-Din al-Houthi, who was appointed as a Minister of Education in the coup government, his brother Muhammad Badr al-Din al-Houthi and Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, head of the so-called Supreme Revolutionary Committee, in addition to leaders in the group, such as Abdul Karim Amir al-Din al-Houthi, Abdul Majid al-Houthi, Ahmed Dirham al-Mu'ayd, Ahmad Muhammad Hamid, Abdul Mohsen al-Tawoos and Dhaif Allah Rassam.

And the organization revealed the presence of 22 parties involved in child recruitment in the militia's areas of control, stressing that the militia granted military ranks (colonel - second lieutenant) to 155 children out of the total number of victims. And the organization reviewed a number of Houthi practices against children and the means of their recruitment, most notably sectarian courses, schools, institutes, mosques, summer centers and orphanages, as well as kidnapping.

And the report stated that the Houthis are forcing children to carry out tasks such as direct combat, transporting supplies, gathering information, planting mines, driving cars and motorcycles, building fortifications and trenches, escorting leaders and supervisors and working at checkpoints, which subjects them to death, capture or permanent disabilities.

Previous international attestations:

The report of the local Mayyun Organization was preceded by many international reports, which revealed part of the bleak picture that children have been subjected to in Yemen since the Houthi militia's control and its bloody coup at the end of 2014.

An international human rights report issued last February revealed that the Houthi militia has forcibly recruited about 10,300 children in Yemen since 2014, warning of serious consequences if the UN continues to fail to address this phenomenon.

And the report launched by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties on the occasion of the International Day Against Child Recruitment, which comes on February 12 of each year, stated that the Houthi group uses complex patterns to forcibly recruit children and involve them in hostilities in the various areas it controls in Yemen, It resulted in killing and wounding hundreds of them.

Previous numbers:

And the report documented the names of 111 children who were killed during the battles between July and August 2020 only.

The report indicated that, in the past three years (2018, 2019, 2020), the Houthi group launched an open and compulsory campaign to recruit children, opening 52 training camps for thousands of teenagers and children. These forced recruitment campaigns spread in the regions of Saada, Sana'a, Al Mahwit, Al Hudaydah, Tihama, Hajjah and Dhamar, and targeted children from the age of 10, especially school students.

According to the documentation of the two organizations, the Houthi group resorts to threatening Yemeni families in the villages and areas it controls in order to recruit their children aged 10-17 years, in addition to recruiting children in camps for the displaced and orphanages. And in some cases, the group has recruited children from poor families in exchange for monthly financial rewards amounted ($150).

The report contained testimonies of children recruited by the Houthi group, which were collected by the field research teams affiliated with the two organizations.

The two organizations stated that "child recruitment is a war crime according to the Rome Statute organizing the International Criminal Court."

A weak international position:

Last April, Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar al-Eryani accused the Houthi militia of "recruiting thousands of children in its areas of control to fight in its ranks," criticizing the international community's stance on this.

And the organization pointed to the estimates published by specialized organizations that talk about the Houthis recruiting tens of thousands of children since their coup against the state, and they took them by enticement and intimidation from their homes and classrooms from different areas of their control and threw them into the crematoriums of death, and they ended up dead, captives and people with permanent disabilities.

Minister al-Eryani called on the international community, the United Nations, the UN envoy and human rights and child protection organizations to exert more "pressure on the Houthi group to stop the recruitment of children and take responsible positions regarding the genocidal crimes committed by the Houthis against childhood in Yemen."