Child Recruitment and Indoctrination in Yemen

These are the schools that have been turned into camps where

children are indoctrinated and trained to fight in a war they

never asked for. Yes, these are the classrooms where young

students once learned about math, science, and history.

But now, under Houthi control, they are taught about different types of

lessons,

including combat training, racist ideology, and

sectarian indoctrination.

The Houthis have systematically targeted educational institutions in

areas under their control, converting them into recruitment and

training centers for child soldiers, as well as the

appointment of Yahya Houthi, the older brother of the group leader,

Abdul

Malik al-Houthi, as the minister of education.

Also, Qasim Hamran, the commander of the so-called support

brigades of the

Houthis army, simultaneously serves as deputy

minister of education. This move aims to reshape the

minds of young Yemenis, instilling an ideology

filled with sectarian teachings through controlled education

system. Yahya Houthi has initiated a policy

that involves

expelling school principals and qualified teachers who are

not loyal to the group and replacing them with loyalists and

members of Hashemite families who actually believe that

they have a divine right to govern.

Their efforts to attract and recruit children are facilitated by a

network of supervisors and mobilizers funded with

significant resources. The education curriculum has

been deliberately modified, pushing children into

joining the military forces. Houthi propaganda and their media

glorify the slain child soldiers during their funerals,

driving their peers to join out of sympathy and a desire for

revenge.

Allah Akbar.

Summer camps have been converted into brainwashing centers where

children are taught to handle weapons and plant mines, and

then dispatched to fight in exchange for basic

incentives such as food rations from aid agencies.

This exploitation of humanitarian aid coerced families into

sending their children to these camps.

Despite international condemnation and agreements with the United

Nations, including UNICEF, aimed at halting the recruitment and

use of children, the Houthis persist in their practices.

Reports from human rights organization, including Mayyun Organization for

Human Rights, reveal that over seven thousand

children recruited by the Houthis have died in the fighting.

Some of these children were as young as nine years old.

Additionally, the Houthis exploit and leverage external conflicts to

advance their fanatical agenda. They've capitalized on Israel-Gaza

conflict as a means to mobilize more children, presenting

their actions as a support to the Palestinian cause and positioning

themselves against the US and Israel, which has significantly

increased recruitment, with reports indicating tens of

thousands of new fighters have been misled into believing they

are fighting to liberate Palestine, but ultimately being

sent to fight Yemenis within their own country instead.

The systematic corruption of young minds not only perpetuate the

cycle of conflict within Yemen, but also pose a serious

threat to regional peace and global

security.