Statement condemning the continued recruitment of children in Yemen

Mayyun Organization condemns the Houthi group’s continued recruitment of children in Yemen, as the organization’s teams monitored the group’s recruitment of 45 children under the age of 15 over the past month and forced them to undergo a training program in a camp northwest of Sana’a Governorate.

The Houthi group held a sectarian course for abducted children calling it a “cultural course” for a week, then attached them to a direct combat course in the recruitment camp that lasted 15 days before distributing them as escorts to field military leaders in the same group.

While we denounce this insistence on recruiting children under the legal age, we renew our recall of the grave violations that these child victims are exposed to in the recruitment camps, including sexual exploitation and human trafficking, which were documented by many local and international human rights reports, most notably the reports of the Expert Group on Yemen.

This arrogance in the continuation of child recruitment despite the group’s signing of an “action plan” with the United Nations to demobilize child soldiers is a flouting of UN and international warnings, and the international community must stand firmly in front of it.

Issued by Mayyun Human Rights Organization March 5, 2023