Houthis massive violations against children in Yemen

Yemen, a country that suffers from extreme poverty and the lack of food resources, is one of the countries in which it is the easiest to put your hands on any weapon and explosives from any kinds. Furthermore, it is one of the countries that its common to find children that are manipulated and used by terror organizations, both for terror purposes as soldier kids and as sex slaves.

It has been more than eight years since the war in Yemen started, and eight years since Ansar Allah terror organization (A.K.A. the Houthis), came to be one of Iran most valuable proxies in the Middle East. During these years the Houthis have attacked schools and hospitals, killed thousands of children and injured tens of thousands to the level of maiming.

Soldier kids are forced by the Houthis to fight against the Yemeni army. There is evidence of soldier kids from the age of eleven who participate in battles and killed people, even kids of only seven years that were put as guards at checkpoints.

Houthis have also kidnapped children from their families, that were just brutally murdered, and sent them to one of the “educational camps” (over fifty), where they brainwash them and give them a short military training.

In some of the poorest areas controlled by the Houthis, families are forced to sell their children to the Houthis for less than one hundred USD, an income that can make the family survive for long time. The fact that most of the families have several kids pushes parents to sacrifice one child in order to save the others.

Besides soldiers in battle and guards, the children are used by the Houthis as informants, looters, messengers and spies.

Houthis are using children to work with landmines because of their low weight. This fact took many children’s life and moreover, caused severe injuries to many of them.

The soldier kids are lured by Houthis with a promise to a better future with benefits of food supply, tobacco and khat plant (traditional local drug), a high monthly salary for Yemen of 20,000 Yemeni rials (approximately $80). Many of them do not receive any money at all.

A UN report exposed the horrible scale of the use of soldier kids by Houthis: between January 2020 and May 2021, nearly 2,000 children recruited by the Houthis died in battle.

The numbers are extremely high and based on what is possible to verify at this time:

Around 12,000 – 14,000 children have been killed in Yemen since the war started.

At least 8,000 – 11,000 children have been recruited as soldier kids by the Houthis.

Sex abuse and rapes are very common in the Houthi region and even not causing any second thoughts to the leadership. Many of the children are raped during their time in the “educational camps” by their supervisors or between the battles at the front by their field commanders. There is no estimation of the numbers, but this phenomenon is very common, and the numbers are too high to detect.

The Houthis are also raping girls and kidnap them when they invade a village. Most of them are forced to marry a militia member, and the rest are just living in captivity as prostitutes, and eventually end up dead in this one way or another. Some girls have committed suicide after they were forced to marry men at the age of 50-60 years.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and if not for any other reason, for the sake of these children, this has to stop.