Iran-backed Houthis recruited teenage girls in Yemen, says new UN report

Children 'immeasurably damaged through recruitment, abuse and deprivation', eminent experts say

The US State Department said it was "deeply concerned by the Houthis' aggression". AP

The Houthi rebels in Yemen recruited 34 teenage girls – some said to be survivors of sexual violence – as spies, medics, guards and members of an all-female force, a report by UN-backed experts said on Wednesday.

The findings came in the third and latest report by the group of eminent experts on Yemen, commissioned by the Human Rights Council to investigate rights abuses in the war.

The conflict has resulted in what the UN calls the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis.

The report, based on more than 400 accounts and focusing mainly on the period between July 2019 and June 2020, showed how a generation of Yemeni children have been “immeasurably damaged through child recruitment, abuse, and deprivation of their most basic human rights, including education”.

The group said the Iran-backed Houthi rebels recruited boys as young as 7 from schools, poor urban areas and detention centres through abduction, recruitment by peers, indoctrination and promises of money.

“The group also received credible reports regarding Houthi recruitment of 34 girls, aged between 13 and 17, from June 2015 through June 2020 for use as spies, recruiters of other children, guards, medics, and members of the Zainabiyat,” the report said.

The Zainabiyat is the female force created by the rebels.

Houthi rebels on patrol in Sanaa on August 30, 2020. EPA

“Twelve of these girls allegedly survived sexual violence and/or a forced and early marriage directly linked to their recruitment,” the report said. 

The report will be considered by the Human Rights Council after its autumn session begins on Monday.

“Yemen remains a tortured land, with its people ravaged in ways that should shock the conscience of humanity,” said Kamel Jendoubi, chairman of the expert panel.

“The international community has a responsibility to put an end to this pandemic of impunity, and should not turn a blind eye to the gross violations that have been committed in Yemen.”