Eradah Organization Chief meets with Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

The dean of Yemeni abductees and prisoners, the Chief of Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance met with the the member of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography Ms. paulina. In the meeting Eradah Organization Chief showed Paulina the suffering of Yemeni children and the serious violations they were subjected to by Houthis group. He said thousands of school boys were deprived of learning and driven to recruitment camps where they are taught the sectarian thoughts of Shiite Hawzah of Iraq and Iran. Eradah Organization chief added that the children who recruited in such Houthi’s camps were brainwashed and inculcated in their minds outliers and extreme religious conviction, turning them into a time bombs and that’s why relatives killing became widespread , E. G. 38 civilians were killed last year by their relative children who were recruited in such Houthi’s camps. According to the organization sources, Houthis group recruited about 4,526 children In 6 months of the year were distributed to a number of recruitment camps, their coordinates were determined in the report handed over to the Special Rapporteur on recruitment and use of children in hostilities. The following are some examples :The child M. M. Q. was abducted by Houthis when he was 13 years old, and put in the intelligence and security service prison in Sana’a. He is now 20 years old and still abductee away from his parents and brothers. The child R. Y. A. was kidnapped by Houthis when he was a minor, now he is still in Houthis’ prisons. About 72 children are detained by Houthis intelligence and security service for years, and are deprived of their rights of education, rights, treatment and other basic rights of childhood and subjected to torture and psychological destruction. We are herein renewing our call on Houthis to release them immediately and unconditionally Eradah Organization Chief also touched on the recruitment of under-age girls to what Houthis called “Zainbiyat”, which is a group of recruited women belonging to Houthis preventive security used to raid homes and suppress women, and some documented cases, Houthis supervisors drove many of them into battlefronts in Marib and Aljawf where the militants of Houthis used them in pleasure marriages. The Chief of Eradah Organization warned in his intervention that Houthis brainwash the minds of Yemeni children in order to facilitate using them as militants, that in turn will turn them into time bombs puting the whole society at risk. He added that last years children were systematically vulnerable to sexual exploitation by Houthis supervisors in cities and battlefronts. Given the sensitivity of the topic, activists and journalists avoid raising the issue, so Houthis keep on recruiting children and sexually exploitating them of either sex. At the end of the meeting, a mechanism to provide the Working Group with the information and evidence discussed in the meeting was put. Ms. Paulina extended her thanks to the Chief of Eradah Organization for the information he provided them. Thanks also go to the journalists Mohammed Al Mahdi and Tawfeeq Ash-shara’bi, the activist Liza Al Badawi and Mohammed Ghalip. The meeting was held in coordination with Human Rights Association. Issued by Eradah Organization to Combat Torture and Forced Disappearance Sept 26, 2024 Human Rights Council, Geneva – Switzerland