What is Iran’s position on Houthis recruitment of children?

The Associated Press has brought the issue of child recruitment by the Houthis in Yemen to the forefront, after an old tweet from the current Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian encouraged this action.

Several years ago, Hossein Amir Abdollahian tweeted: “The new Riyadh game in Yemen is doomed to defeat. Ansar Allah and their allies are the most effective part of the resistance and political solution”, he said, adding that a child of the Iranian-backed militia was shown carrying weapons.

Iranian-American analyst Karim Sadjadpour shared the tweet of Abdollahian that senior Iranian officials praise the effectiveness of child recruitment in Yemen, after a Human Rights Watch report confirmed that Iran is also recruiting children in Syria.

Two Houthi officials told the Associated Press: “The Houthis have recruited several hundred children, including children as young as 10, over the past two months and deployed them on the front lines as part of a build-up of forces during the UN-brokered truce that has held since April”.

The two Houthi officials who the agency described as militants said they saw no problem with the practice, arguing that boys as young as 10 or 12 are men.

The two Houthi officials required that their identities be kept secret to avoid a clash with other Houthi leaders.

The Houthis have used so-called summer camps to spread their religious ideology and recruit boys to fight. Such camps have been set up in schools and mosques across areas under their control in Yemen, especially the north and center of the country and the capital Sanaa.

Some 2,000 children recruited by the Houthis were killed on the battlefield between January 2020 and May 2021, according to UN experts.

Although the Houthis signed what UNICEF described as an action plan to end and prevent the practice last April, four aid workers from three international organizations working in areas under Houthi control said they have noticed an intensification of Houthi efforts to recruit children in recent weeks; due to the losses they sustained during the Yemeni battles, especially in Marib, which lasted two years.

Aid workers spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety. “They said the Houthis pressured families to send their children to camps where they learned how to handle weapons and lay mines, in return for services including food rations from international organizations”.

An aid worker working in remote northern areas described seeing 10-year-old children manning checkpoints on the road with Kalashnikovs hanging on their shoulders, others sent to the front line, and some children returning injured from fighting in Marib, the worker said.

Earlier this year, the UN panel of experts said: “The Houthis have a system of indoctrination for child soldiers, including using humanitarian aid to pressure families, and the children are first taken to centers for a month or more of religious courses, experts have found that 7-year-olds learn how to clean weapons and avoid rockets”.