UN experts said in a new report that nearly 2,000 children recruited by Yemen's Houthi rebels died on the battlefield between January 2020 and May 2021, and the Iranian-backed rebels continue to hold camps and courses encouraging youngsters to fight.
In the report to the UN Security Council circulated, experts said rebels were still recruiting children, using summer camps and a mosque to spread their ideology. They added that airstrikes on the rebels by Saudi-led forces were still inflicting many civilian casualties.
The panel of experts identified a list of 1,406 children recruited by the Houthis who had died on the battlefield in 2020 and 562 between January and May in 2021, according to the 300-page report.
"The children are instructed to shout the Houthi slogan 'death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam,'" the Associated Press news agency quoted the four-member panel of experts as saying.
"In one camp, children as young as seven years of age were taught to clean weapons and evade rockets."
The experts denounced the use of child soldiers in the conflict, and called on all parties "to refrain from using schools, summer camps and mosques to recruit children." They recommended imposing sanctions against those who do so.
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014 when the Houthis took Sanaa, the capital, and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition that included the United Arab Emirates and was backed at the time by the United States, entered the war months later, in 2015, seeking to restore the government to power.
The conflict has since become a regional proxy war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and fighters.
The war has also created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the country to the brink of famine.
In the report to the UN Security Council circulated, experts said rebels were still recruiting children, using summer camps and a mosque to spread their ideology. They added that airstrikes on the rebels by Saudi-led forces were still inflicting many civilian casualties.
The panel of experts identified a list of 1,406 children recruited by the Houthis who had died on the battlefield in 2020 and 562 between January and May in 2021, according to the 300-page report.
"The children are instructed to shout the Houthi slogan 'death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam,'" the Associated Press news agency quoted the four-member panel of experts as saying.
"In one camp, children as young as seven years of age were taught to clean weapons and evade rockets."
The experts denounced the use of child soldiers in the conflict, and called on all parties "to refrain from using schools, summer camps and mosques to recruit children." They recommended imposing sanctions against those who do so.
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014 when the Houthis took Sanaa, the capital, and much of the northern part of the country, forcing the government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition that included the United Arab Emirates and was backed at the time by the United States, entered the war months later, in 2015, seeking to restore the government to power.
The conflict has since become a regional proxy war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and fighters.
The war has also created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages and pushing the country to the brink of famine.
