On March 12, 2021, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen announced, through its Twitter account, that it had "managed to reunite 14 underage children with their families, after a long period of separation. These children had been handed over to it by the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The ICRC reported that the government said that these underage boys were detained while they were fighting with the Ansar Allah (Houthis) armed groups on Ma'rib frontlines.
This announcement coincided with the recent intensification of confrontations and battles on the outskirts of the city of Ma’rib and several other cities, which increased the frequency of the recruitment of fighters from underage children whose pens were taken from their hands and replaced with guns and turned into fighters overnight. Many of them were killed, and those who were lucky enough to survive returned either after an arrest experience or with a permanent disability or physical or psychological injury.
My only wish is to be able walk again
Abdul Karim Salem a 15-years-old Sits in his a wheelchair with eyes full of desire accompanied by pain, and watches children of the same age playing soccer in front of him, while he is unable to move, because he was hit by shrapnel that penetrated his spine. He was injured while fighting at one of the fronts in Al-Jawf Governorate in late 2019, and this injury caused him a disability, after which he was unable to walk on his legs. He goes out every morning with his father, who is also on a wheelchair, after he injured his legs and lost one of his hands on one of the combating fronts where he was also fighting. Abdul Karim grabs his father's electric wheelchair and they go on their daily tour through the streets of the neighborhood where they live in, and then return to open their small shop (hut), or as it is called in the Yemeni dialect: "Sandaka". They sell some foodstuffs and other homemade stuff that they made at home, such as bread and “lahouh.” This shop represents a main source of income for Abdel Karim and his family; "It is true that it does not cover the costs of all our basic needs, but at least it suffices us to ask people, and it covers the necessary needs of my family," Abdul Karim expressed his satisfaction with this small project.
Abdul Karim quit his school when he was in the ninth grade of the primary school. He says that he was forced to drop out of school and go to fight at the front in order to provide basic expenses for his family after the injury of his father, who was the only breadwinner for the family, but his injury caused him a disability that prevented him from working.
Abdul Karim said in his interview with "Khuyut": "I had hoped to complete my secondary education and get a high-grade average that would enable me to get a scholarship to study medicine in Germany. it was my dream to become a doctor treating people, but now all I wish is to be able to perform the surgeries that doctors told us are not possible to perform in Yemen. My only wish is to walk again.”
Ali Al-Ansi, a lawyer and a child rights activist, said in an interview with "Khuyut" that many child fighters are thrown into the front lines of fire without training, as all they know is carrying weapons and shooting in the air. Therefore, according to Lawyer Al-Ansi, death claims the life of large number children, and causes many casualties in most of the battling fronts, as a result of lack of training and lack of experience. This was confirmed by Abd al-Karim that he has been taken to attend a two-week educational course, a military one, during which they taught him basic methods of shooting, and another primitive one, which he said he did not benefit from when he went to the battel field to fight.
Seeing the blood, torn body parts, and burnt corpses shocked him and made him unconscious, and he only remember that he woke up to find himself held in the hands of the joint forces of the coalition, which he had come to fight.
A body without a Soul
Injuries and physical disabilities were not the only damages suffered by the child soldiers. Their participation in the war left countless psychological problems, in addition to the painful experiences of their families, most of which they could not overcome easily.
Ahmed al-Muntasir a 13-year-old child was among those released within prisoners' exchange deal that took place under the auspices of the United Nations in late 2020, between Ansar Allah (Houthis) on the one hand, and the Yemeni internationally recognized government and other forces supported by Saudi-Emirati-led coalition on the one hand. Ahmed was captured on the West Coast Front in Hodeidah Governorate by the joint forces backed by the “UAE”, where he was fighting within the Ansar Allah (Houthis) armed groups at the beginning of 2017. He returned after three years in captivity with psychological disorders due to the conditions of detention he lived in, and before that, the cruel scenes of the war and the confrontations he experienced. We tried to talk to Ahmed, but he remained silent, immersed in his world, we did not receive any response from him, he avoided even looking at us.
His mother tells Khuyut that her son has returned as someone else. Ahmed, who we used to know, "has always preferred to be alone in his room, and he does not talk to us or to anyone unless we take the initiative to speak to him. He may answer briefly, and then returns to his silence, which has become his dominant feature." His mother added that almost every night, she rushes to his room after hearing him screaming loudly, because of the nightmares that never leave him. The miserable mother concluded her speech with grief on her face: "My son Ahmed has returned to me a body without a soul."
Ahmed’s father tells “Khuyut” about the incident in which his son Ahmed was captured which he said that Ahmed revealed to him after many tries to urge him to speak: “Ahmed, by chance, survived an airstrike targeting the military vehicle that he was on board with a group of other soldiers, who were killed all as a result of this raid. Ahmed said that, luckily before the strike, he went to relieve himself somewhat away from the place where the vehicle was, but he was surprised by the huge sound of the air raid, after which he felt the shaking of the ground under his feet. He hurriedly to the military vehicle to see it burning and the body parts of soldiers and fighters scattered around. He said that the sight of blood, body parts, and burnt corpses shocked him and made him insensible, and he only woke up from that state to find that he was being held by the joint forces backed by UAE, which he had come to fight.
Ahmed is currently undergoing intensive psychiatric treatment sessions in a psychiatric clinic in Sanaa. The doctor supervising his condition says that he was subjected to major psychological and nervous shocks, which caused him severe schizophrenia, a strong desire for isolation, and sleeping disturbances and wakefulness, in addition to other psychological and mental disorders.
The conflict exacerbated the problem
Ahmed Abdel-Karim is only an example of the many Yemeni children who were recruited to fight in the front lines of fire during the past six years of the war in Yemen. The responsible authorities did not reveal the real numbers of dead and wounded among the child fighters.
All parties to the conflict in Yemen are recruiting and using children in various military and security missions, this was confirmed by the report of the United Nations Group of Eminent Experts, published in late 2020, which documented about 259 cases of recruitment and use of children in Yemen, recruited by several parties to the conflict in which they were used in hostility. Additionally, the report indicated a high rate of deaths and injuries among those child soldiers who were used in the fighting.
Ansar Allah group (Houthis) had the highest number of this child recruitment, as they were responsible for recruiting 163 children, some of whom were as young as 7 years old. The report states that these children "were recruited mostly from schools, poor areas, remote villages, detention centers and camps of the displaced, through financial incentives and exploitation of the religious ideological aspect." The report noted that, in all investigated cases, poverty and hunger were strong factors that made children vulnerable to monetary incentives and victims of manipulation by recruiters. Strikingly, the Group of Eminent Experts confirmed that they had received reliable reports on the “recruitment of 34 girls (aged between 13 and 17) by the Houthis who used them in spying and in the recruitment of other children. Further, part of these girls have been used as guards and paramedics, and in women’s security force whose primary tasks are to support the Houthis by indoctrinating women and girls with the group’s ideology, maintaining order in women’s detention centers, and carrying out law enforcement activities.
On the other hand, the report states that “24 children are the number who were recruited by the [internationally recognized] government forces and other forces supported by Saudi-Emirati-led coalition.” The experts' report indicated that "children were recruited from Taiz and Lahj, then transferred to Saudi Arabia to receive training, and later used as fighters, some of whom were killed, and others detained by the Houthis."
While Abdul Karim, Ahmed and many other children are still suffering from the consequences of recruitment and involvement in the fighting, the team of experts stresses that these figures verified by the team only reflect a partial image of the scale and nature of child recruitment in Yemen. Yemen’s children have suffered immeasurable harm as a consequence of their recruitment, abuse, and deprivation of the most basic human rights, including education.
