The Houthis continue to indoctrinate and recruit children in their Iranian-backed summer camps

Recently leaked videos showing dozens of Houthi children being indoctrinated and trained by the militia in their summer camps have prompted Yemeni government officials, human rights groups and child protection advocates to call on international authorities to stop these practices.  

Iran, which recently stepped up arms shipments to the Houthis, has come under fire following the release of the images. This situation is only worsening the conflict in Yemen, hampering UN efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict. 

Last month the Houthis pulled out of these camps, where year after year thousands of children are taught to correctly recite The Quran, Islamic lessons or to confront Western ideology.  

But the harsh reality is that military instructions are the order of the day; in fact, one of the videos shows a man teaching these children, as young as 10 years old, how to shoot an AK-47, something that made Yemeni activist Nadia Abdullah explode, stating that: "The Houthis continue to violate the rights of children in Yemen. This Houthi teaches students how to use weapons to push them to the frontlines".

Yemen's Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani, aware of this situation, tweeted criticising these Houthi camps, where, according to him, children are brainwashed and militarily trained to fight the enemy.  

"The Houthi militia is increasing the recruitment of children and pushing them to the frontline amidst a shocking and unjustified international silence, and the failure of human rights and child protection organisations to play their role in condemning this heinous crime and stopping the mass killing of Yemeni children," he wrote on his official Twitter profile. 

The conflict is becoming increasingly bitter, and the number of Houthis is growing in what may become not only a threat to Yemen, but to the whole world. Yemeni journalist Ahmed al-Mosably expressed that: "Unfortunately, there are still parties inside and outside the country who are not very aware of the danger of the Iranian expansionist project", knowing that these camps are real "ticking time bombs".  

Another Yemeni journalist, Ammar Zabal, after meeting with young Houthi fighters, said: "The influence of the Houthis' toxic thinking on these children is huge". He said that the indoctrination lessons they receive are so strong that they have made children as young as ten years old hate anyone or anything that opposes their ideals.

A report earlier this year published by the United Nations states that more than 2,000 children recruited by the Houthis have died on the battlefield from January 2020 to May 2021 alone. The study certified that more than 1,500 children had been recruited by the rebels in just one year, 2020, who, according to the experts who wrote it, "were between 10 and 17 years old".  

The recruitment of children has accelerated in recent months, warned Ahmed al-Qurashi, director of the SEYAJ Organisation for the Protection of Children. He also warned of the danger they will pose not only to regional but also to international security, as they will eventually become veteran soldiers. 

"The increasing recruitment of children in Yemen is an evidence that all initiatives and proposals to protect children have failed. It also shows the failure of UN initiatives, including an agreement with the Houthis to stop the recruitment of children in the fighting," said Al-Qurashi. 

And it is precisely these children who suffer the terrible impact of a conflict that, despite attempts by international organisations such as the UN, seems increasingly difficult to resolve through diplomacy.