The meeting of the Chief of the Yemeni Center with the team of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, Human Rights Office

The meeting of the Chief of the Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (will and hope), the Dean of Yemeni Abductees Sheikh Jamal Al-Mamari with the team of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, Human Rights Officer.

  During the meeting, Sheikh Jamal Al-Mamari talked about the tragic situations of Yemeni children and the grave violations against them. The discussion focused on the recruitment of children, blackmailing their families and the crimes that would fatally compromise them. 

In his speech, the dean of Yemeni abductees indicated that Houthis deprive Yemeni children of access to education, instead, they use a 'carrot and stick' approach to prompte children to attend their sectarian courses bywhich the under aged children are brainwashed. Moreover, they become addicted to drugs which resulting in destroying mental and physical health of the children. Al-Mamari added that the sectarian courses of Houthis lead to catastrophic impacts on society as the ideology of Houthis based on a culture of death. As a consequence, the outcomes of these sectarian courses are ticking bombs that threaten the very stability of the society and instruments of death threatening members of society including parents. The incident of Abdullah Siroor, a citizen from Emran, is a clear example. The three sons of Siroor joined Houthis militia's courses where they were taught hatred and terrorist sectarian thought. When they came back home, their father asked them to stop going with Houthis, but instead of complying with their father's order they beat him by sticks to death.

   Houthis militia drove thousands of Yemeni children into battlefronts to be engaged in the ongoing fight in many Yemeni areas making use of the hard living conditions of their families. Hence Houthis keeping on recruiting children and driving them into death is a war crime with full-fledged premeditation.
   The Chief of Yemeni Center Sheikh Jamal Al-Mamari pointed out the improvised explosive devices Houthis used, with some camouflaged to blend in with the surrounding environment to be unrecognizable which increasing their lethal effect on civilians, in particular children who are driven by their curiosity, without realizing, to touch and play with these strange objects. That makes children to be at greater risk of being victims of those explosive devices. By way of example only, the two arms and leg of the child Abdulwahed Al Wafi were amputated by exploded of two landmines while he was feeding his sheep near his house located in Wadi Hareeb of Nihm eastern Sana'a. On the whole, the ones who are at greater risk of the explosive devices are children and women, specially, in conflict-affected areas. The survivors of the exploding landmines suffered physical and psychological injuries and negative impact on their lives.
  The Chief of Yemeni Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violations and Torture (will & hope) also touched on the role of UN in protecting children during wars, providing the ones who are refugees and forced displaced with all the requirements to continue their studies. He added that UN should work to prevent recruitment of children, as well as to raise awareness about its risks via mass media, social platforms, brochures on the risk of sectarian courses and planted camouflaged landmines. UN should seek to rehabilitate and reintegrate children, who engaged in armed acts, within their families and communities.

Geneva – Switzerland
In cooperation with Human Rights Association