Children soldiers - "time bomb": They brainwash them, then send them to the front

Children soldiers - "time bomb": They brainwash them, then send them to the front

None of the conflicting parties shy away from that practice, but a far larger number of children are still being recruited by Houthi people, writes DW.

Samir was eventually killed. The 15-year-old paid with his life for the desire to fight on the side of the Houthis in the civil war that is being fought in Yemen.

Previously, in several summer camps, he was explained what the worldview of the rebels was, listened to what religious teachers were saying, heard their theses about "jihad" and the fight to protect the homeland. Samir was delighted with that. He was told that God had allowed him to fight against the Yemeni government. That pushed him to the front, to fight there.

Samir's father, who wishes to remain anonymous, told DW that he and his wife agreed for their son to go to summer camp. But when Samir stated that he wanted to go to the front, his parents refused. The son, however, was impossible to stop.

In the end, the parents relented - among other things because Samir regularly sent money earned to his poor family. In addition, he came home every few months.

And then the shocking news: Samir was killed. The Houthis handed over the body of their son to the parents, and on his forehead was a ribbon with the inscription "Martyrs".

Samir is not the only child from the Sana settlement who died at the front. Three other boys, Imad, Yousef and Muhammad, aged between 15 and 16, also did not survive the fighting. They were killed in a bomb attack, and their remains were handed over to their families.

The rebels recruit the most

Recruiting child soldiers is one of the worst forms of human rights violations in the civil war in Yemen. In a document released in late June, the United Nations recorded 163 such cases: 134 victims were boys, 29 girls. Most of the recruited children, 115 of them, go to the account of the Houthis.

For their part, they protested against UN criticism. In a declaration written in Arabic, they assessed that the UN report was dictated by the American government and rich oil countries.

Children-soldiers on the side of government troops

Government troops are not shying away from recruiting child soldiers either. According to UN documentation, there were 34 children in their ranks. According to a joint report by the SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, groups close to the Yemeni government are trying to recruit children "in large numbers", especially in the southern provinces of Taiz, Lahid and Abyan. According to those organizations, the children are taken to trainings in camps in Saudi Arabia.

The mobilization of children took place in different ways. For example, a soldier recruits his underage son to get more money. Others again encourage their underage brothers to join the army. There is also a known case when the son of the killed soldier took his place. Families' personal relationships with the authorities also play a role in the recruitment process. However, this is not about systematic recruitment, local sources claim for DW, and the government's practice differs from that of the Houthis.

Tawfiq al-Hamidi, president of the SAM Organization for Human Rights and Freedoms, sees it in a similar way. He believes that the measures applied by the Houthi people are not comparable to the measures of the government. In government troops, very few children are directly involved in the fighting. "Most of them work in the cities on civilian jobs, those children stay with their parents," Al Hamidi told DW.

Summer camp of Houthi people

According to several human rights organizations, Houthis are recruiting children to a far greater extent. A study by the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Human Rights and the SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms states that since 2014, the Houthis have recruited about 10.300 Yemeni children. In training centers, children are brought up and taught to use violence. They are subject to the ideology of the Houthis and are preparing to fight on the basis of extremist ideas.

A spokesman for the Yemeni organization for children's rights, called the "Organization for the Protection of Children Siaj", states data that are even more depressing: Houthis have about six thousand summer camps, and they train at least a hundred children in each. The minors are undergoing tactical, combat training and many of those children, after some time, ended up at the front.

"Time bomb"

The phenomenon of recruiting children is a kind of time bomb, former Minister of Human Rights of the internationally recognized government, Muhammad Askar, told DW. Hundreds of thousands of children are brainwashed in camps:

"Children's minds are filled with a culture of hatred and the slogan 'Death to America!' How are you going to integrate such children into society in a few years?"