According to Houthi official statements, roughly half a million children were enrolled in six thousand summer camps in areas of Houthi control during the 2021 academic year.
Educational sources in the group’s controlled areas told Seyaj that cultural courses include lessons and training activities that urge jihad and fighting, endear participants to death, and train them to use weapons.
The sources did not rule out the involvement of children in the battle fronts currently raging between the internationally recognized government and the Houthi group.
Seyaj considers this intellectual and ideological recruitment of students a violation of national laws and international treaties. It calls on the Houthis to immediately stop recruiting and involving children in armed conflict, as exploiting educational facilities for military purposes is a war crime without a statute of limitations.
Seyaj says that Yemeni children are the most susceptible to globally and nationally prohibited abuses. Minor combatants on the frontlines face death, injury, maiming, exploitation, and the denial of all basic rights.
Seyaj Organization for Childhood Protection – June 29, 2021
