NEW YORK // The UN has confirmed long-held fears that large numbers of children were dragged into the bitter Yemeni conflict with Shiite rebels and has called for recruiters to be brought to justice. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN's special representative for children and armed conflict, said many underage teenagers were enlisted to fight and die among adult troops.
"There is large-scale recruitment going on, primarily among the rebels, but also among some of the forces backed by the government - not the government army but the militias backed by the government," Ms Coomaraswamy said on Friday. "We hope the Yemeni authorities will prosecute those who recruit children. That would be the first step. I will be approaching the ambassador of Yemen to discuss some of the findings - within the next month."
Rights activists have warned about the use of child soldiers in Yemen's mountainous north for months, but evidence has remained patchy and anecdotal and estimates of the number of child soldiers vary greatly. Until a ceasefire was announced last week, the government had fought a six-year war against a northern tribe of Zaidi Shiites called the Houthis. A UN news agency reported that youths between 14 and 15 made up 40 per cent of the fighters during combat between two tribes in Amran province last month, and that as many as 600 armed Yemeni adolescents die in combat annually.
Brooke Goldstein, director of the US-based Children's Rights Institute, recently warned that Yemeni "tribes are in the crude habit of using children to staff their troops" and suggested that more than half of the combatants in cross-tribal fighting were children. The most recent Yemen report by the Coalition To Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, from 2008, highlighted an underage Houthi faction, known as Shabab al Moumineen, or Believing Youth, accused of launching attacks against government and western targets.
Tribal elders train children to respect clan identities, whether Houthi or government-backed proxy tribal groups, analysts say. Teenage boys often see AK-47s as alluring status symbols and are under pressure to fight alongside adult men in their family. Children up to age 14 make up 46 per cent of Yemen's 23 million people; the average age is less than 17, so the use of child soldiers is not a surprise to many. The Arab world's poorest country is said to be awash with guns, with perhaps as many as nine million, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey in 2003
Using children under the age of 15 as soldiers breaches international laws, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols, and is defined as a war crime by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court. Christoph Wilcke, a regional expert for the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, spoke of the difficulty in counting the number of child soldiers when he conducted research on the Yemeni war in October.
He found little evidence to confirm claims that the Houthis had 3,000 child soldiers among their estimated 11,000 fighters, and only confirmed a handful of "concrete examples" among the rebels and other tribal militias. But he accused Yemen's army of breaking its own rules and employing under-18s in its ranks, often because a lack of birth certificates and other documentation in Yemen means the actual age of recruits is unknown.
"The Yemeni government should do two things: review its [army] recruitment policy and immediately take steps to prevent child soldiers [fighting] in its allied tribal militias," he said. He called for research into the number of Houthi child soldiers. While the UN calls for Yemeni prosecutors to launch cases against recruiters, Mr Wilcke warned that the government had been reluctant to investigate atrocities committed during the war and cast doubt on the country's judicial process.
Brendan O'Malley, who wrote a UN report on attacks against education, said if Yemeni officials failed to launch prosecutions against recruiters, then the matter could be transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Yemen's ambassador to the UN, Abdullah al Saidi, was not available for comment, but has previously asserted that the national army sticks to the rules about child soldiers. "The law stipulates that no one can be drafted who is under 18. That is the law and it is implemented," he said.
jreinl@thenational.ae
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ELECTION%20RESULTS
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Results
United States beat UAE by three wickets
United States beat Scotland by 35 runs
UAE v Scotland – no result
United States beat UAE by 98 runs
Scotland beat United States by four wickets
Fixtures
Sunday, 10am, ICC Academy, Dubai - UAE v Scotland
Admission is free
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Teaching in coronavirus times
High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Los Angeles, from Dh4,975 return, including taxes. The flight time is 16 hours. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico and Southwest all fly direct from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo from Dh1,243 return, including taxes. The flight time is two-and-a-half hours.
The trip
Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic’s eight-day Whales Wilderness itinerary costs from US$6,190 (Dh22,736) per person, twin share, including meals, accommodation and excursions, with departures in March and April 2018.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
SERIES INFO
Schedule:
All matches at the Harare Sports Club
1st ODI, Wed Apr 10
2nd ODI, Fri Apr 12
3rd ODI, Sun Apr 14
4th ODI, Sun Apr 16
UAE squad
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Zimbabwe squad
Peter Moor (captain), Solomon Mire, Brian Chari, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Craig Ervine, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Tony Munyonga, Elton Chigumbura
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'
Rating: 3/5
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Mads Mikkelson, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Jude Law
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
