Under the title "Houthi Violations Continue: Abduction and Recruitment of Children," the Al Arabiya website reported that the Houthi militias are persisting in their violations against Yemeni children. In the Al Hudaydah governorate, the Houthi militias have abducted students and minors and forcibly sent them to fight at the frontlines.
In detail, local Houthi leaders in the districts of Al Jarrahi, Zabid, and Al-Jabal Raas in southern Al Hudaydah recently kidnapped several students and minors and pushed them into battles without informing their families, according to local media reports.
The militias sent these children into the ongoing battles in the Al Hays district south of Al Hudaydah and placed them at the frontlines. Furthermore, community members reported that the Houthis raid homes, abduct children, and send them to the frontlines without their families' knowledge, urging child rights organizations to pressure the militias to return their children.
Horrific Violations
It is noteworthy that Yemeni Minister of Legal Affairs and Human Rights Ahmed Arman stated on Sunday that the Houthi militias have committed horrific violations against Yemeni children, leading to the loss of childhood, in a clear challenge to all international and local laws and agreements.
In a press statement, Arman indicated that "amid their continued violations of children's rights, the Houthis have used tens of thousands of children, some under the age of eighteen, in battles since their coup against the government in 2014," as reported by the official news agency Saba.
Human Shields
He also highlighted that the militias have used children as human shields at military points and as informants, in addition to their indiscriminate shelling of populated areas, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of children and women.
He confirmed that the landmines planted by the Houthis in farms, roads, and residential areas have caused the deaths and permanent disabilities of many children, some of whom have lost limbs without regard for civilian lives.
Turning Schools into Camps
Arman emphasized that the Houthis' use of schools and educational facilities as military camps and weapons storage, along with their indiscriminate shelling of these facilities, constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
He called on the international community to pressure the Houthi militias to cease these violations and to take serious action to protect Yemeni children from arbitrary actions and widespread recruitment, as well as to provide support to the government to help implement the national strategy to combat the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
More than 35,000 Children
The Deputy Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations, Marwan Noman, announced in September 2021 that the militias had recruited over 35,000 children since 2014, 17% of whom are under the age of eleven, while more than 6,700 children still remain on the frontlines.
Similarly, U.S. Special Envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, confirmed in the same month that the recruitment of children by the Houthis and military escalation are practices undermining peace efforts. A Yemeni human rights network documented 20,977 cases of violations against Yemeni children, in addition to the displacement and displacement of more than 43,000 children by the militias from January 2017 to March 2021.
