{"id":5169,"date":"2022-04-21T02:33:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T02:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=5169"},"modified":"2022-04-21T02:33:43","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T02:33:43","slug":"un-yemens-houthi-rebels-agree-to-stop-using-child-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2022\/04\/21\/un-yemens-houthi-rebels-agree-to-stop-using-child-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"UN: Yemen’s Houthi rebels agree to stop using child soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/4\/19\/un-yemens-houthi-rebels-agree-to-stop-using-child-soldiers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yemeni Civil War that began in 2014 and which still continues to this day has been a pressing human rights issue since it was first sparked and immediately innocent civilians were swept up in the conflict between the Houthi rebels and Yemen\u2019s officially recognized government. Just this past Monday, the 18th of April, some new protections have been given to children in the war to help aleve what is seen as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Houthi representative Abdul Eluh Hajar, in coordination with the United Nations, signed an agreement to cease recruitment of children into their troops and announced that they would release all soldiers under the age of 18 already in their ranks from forced service supposedly within the next six months. The protections also include that children will not be able to enlist in the Houthi\u2019s army nor can they be maimed, killed, or used in any other type of armed conflict such as through suicide bombing to attack enemy soldiers or civilian areas. Additionally, both schools and hospitals are not to be attacked in warfare. According to the United Nations, the recognized Yemeni government that was ousted by the Houthis at the beginning of the war also took official strides in legislation to protect children from the conflict in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, this seems like progress but also like it could be wishful thinking at the same time. The signature of the Houthis on these documents is a promise that we have no guarantee will be kept and consistently followed. As stated by the UN foremost official for children\u2019s protection in war, Virginia Gambit, \u201cthe action plan must be fully implemented and lead to tangible actions for the improvement of the protection of children in Yemen,\u201d meaning it is too early to celebrate yet, but there is some chance that we will get there in time, which is still a bigger step forward than most would have thought possible just within the past couple of months considering the savagery of the fighting that has been seen throughout the war. Unfortunately, with the way children have been used as soldiers in the Yemeni Civil War by the thousands (the UN has confirmed around 3,500 children sent into combat in total while the unconfirmed numbers soar above this at 18,000 children recruited just to the ranks of the Houthis), it seems more likely than not that this plan will not be entirely realized and not within its set time frame, especially with the amount of time and effort it has taken already just to get the Houthi to agree to do something about the children fighting in the war let alone successfully and permanently remove all children from their operations and tactics, which they have been carrying out for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Comparative Government perspective, this shows the sway of the United Nations on a country like Yemen as opposed to a more powerful, stabilized country like the United States or the United Kingdom. Nearly all conditions that have been put on the United States\u2019 capabilities in warfare were accepted willingly by the United States rather than being more pushed into it such as with Yemen. For example, the Geneva Conventions were largely drawn up by Allied powers including the United States and, despite being limitations on the United States as well as the rest of the world, they are essentially limitations placed on the United States by the United States, driven by the moral code of its own people. However with Yemen, while there is of course the desire to protect children, limitations on war, even limitations on something as terrible as the abuse of children for military gain, are not as easy to garner support for nor are they as realistic in a place where so much more crime and tragedy exists on top of those committed against children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/4\/19\/un-yemens-houthi-rebels-agree-to-stop-using-child-soldiers The Yemeni Civil War that began in 2014 and which still continues to this day has been a pressing human rights issue since it was first sparked and immediately innocent civilians were swept up in the conflict between the Houthi rebels and Yemen\u2019s officially recognized government. Just this past Monday, the 18th of April, some new protections have been… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5170,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5169\/revisions\/5170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}