Al-Qaeda is recruiting hundreds of children in its war against the Yemeni army. [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]
Yemeni officials and human rights activists have confirmed that al-Qaeda has resorted to recruiting child soldiers, often taking advantage of the country's instability and high rates of unemployment and poverty.
Officials in the southern province of Abyan said al-Qaeda is recruiting hundreds of children in its war against the Yemeni army. Al-Qaeda is attempting to establish an Islamic emirate in Abyan, following its declaration in Jaar in late March. It has also been engaged in battles since late May in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan, for control of the city.
Nasser al-Munsari, secretary-general of the local council in the Khanfar Directorate, where Jaar is the administrative centre, told Al-Shorfa, "Al-Qaeda recruited many children under the age of 18 once it took over Jaar. They use methods of persuasion and intimidation with parents, or they try to convince them in the name of religion to obtain their consent to recruit their children."
One of al-Qaeda’s tactics in Abyan, according to al-Munsari, is to lure families with money, especially poor families, and convince them that their children will be supporting Islam. The use of religion normally encounters no resistance among Yemenis due to the conservative nature of the Yemeni society and the fact that it holds religion as indisputable, he said.
Ahmed al-Qurshi, head of Seyaj for Childhood Protection, said that according to the organisation, there is evidence al-Qaeda is recruiting children, especially those aged between 13 and 18 years old.
Al-Quraishi added, "We proved that al-Qaeda recruited about 50 children in Abyan. Some of them were killed in the fighting there, and others are still fighting."
In a troubling pattern, children are being recruited for violent operations. Al-Qurshi recalled the assassination attempt against the British ambassador in Sanaa in April 2010, which was carried out by a young person.
Al-Qurshi said al-Qaeda targets children from poor or broken families because persuading them or their families is easier. Seyaj documented a case of a child who suffered because of his mother's bad reputation, so al-Qaeda recruited and trained him, then looked after him. He was then sent to Iraq to fight with the organisation. He declined to name the child for security reasons.
Al-Qurshi said Seyaj has documented cases of arrests of children by the security forces on charges they belonged to al-Qaeda in Aden and Abyan. He said Yemeni law considers a child to be under the age of 17 years. International laws prohibit and criminalise the use of children in armed conflicts and wars.
Abdul Rahman Barman, a lawyer who is president of the Sajeen organisation, told Al-Shorfa, "Children and adolescents can be managed easily and can be recruited to carry out terrorist acts at a lower cost."
Convincing them is easier, he said, because it is enough to tell them that they will end up in paradise to encourage them to die while conducting a terrorist operation. Barman said Yemeni law does not provide for punishment for such crimes.
"We recently suggested in a workshop that the children's law or the penal code should include provisions criminalising the recruitment of children," Barman said, noting that other nations and international treaties modified their laws on the issue.
Barman added, "The recruitment of children by terrorist organisations, especially al-Qaeda, is a crime because it is an assault on the children, and thus on the present and future of the nation. These organisations are training a group of thugs and bombers who will attack society and destroy its infrastructure, and economic resources."