The Houthis are forcing African children to join their summer camps… Details

The crimes of the Houthi rebel militias in Yemen against children and children are still ongoing. A Yemeni human rights network revealed that Houthi militias have sought refuge to recruit the children of African immigrant families by sending them to their summer camps in Sanaa; to use them to fight on the front lines.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms confirmed that “Houthi elements launched raids on neighborhoods where Africans live, and intimidated and threatened families of children because they objected to recruiting their children into the ranks of militias.”

“Somali and Ethiopian families have been subjected to acts of intimidation and blackmail by militias to force them to recruit their sons to fight with them,” the network said in a statement released yesterday and published by the official Yemeni news agency Saba.

“By enrolling African children in their summer camps, Houthi militias are brainwashing them and convincing them that the group is the protectors of the nation and should fight with them, exploiting the tragic situation they are living in,” she said.

“The recruitment of African children reveals the extent of the crimes committed publicly by the Houthi militias against children, which have finally affected the children of African refugees, amid the silence of the United Nations and its competent organizations,” she said in a statement.

The militias “have committed a series of crimes against African migrants, violating human and children’s rights as guaranteed by international laws,” she said.

It called on the international community, the United Nations and UN humanitarian organizations to intervene and save children from their deaths in the Houthi militias’ futile battles, return them to their families and care, condemn their criminal acts against migrants and children, and take deterrent measures and put real pressure on the militia leaders to force them to stop their violations against humanity.

“Many Africans resort to illegal migration to Yemen by sea, looking for work, and some take it as a transit point to a Gulf country.”

A UN report released in late January revealed new details about the suffering of children in Yemen.

Information from United Nations experts confirmed that about 2,000 Yemeni children recruited by the Houthis died on the battlefield between January 2020 and May 2021.

“The expert committee also explained that it received a list of 1,406 children recruited by the Houthis who died on the battlefield in 2020, and a list of 562 children also recruited by the militias who were killed on the battlefield between January and May 2021.”

“They were aged between 10 and 17, many of whom were killed in Amran, Dhamar, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Ibb, Sa’ada and Sana’a,” the experts said.