Iran Recruits Children as Young as 12 for War Roles, Rights Groups Warn of War Crimes
Iran is recruiting children as young as 12 into military-aligned roles in a desperate effort to mobilise the population and bolster its war effort, human rights groups have warned. Rahim Nadali, the deputy director of culture and arts at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), called for members of the general public to step up and "defend the homeland" in comments to Iran's state news agency Defa Press.
Recruitment Drive Targets Children for Conflict Roles
Mr Nadali said the IRGC, which played a central role in the crackdown on Iranian protesters in January, would offer opportunities to the Iranian public to "play a role" in the conflict. He said volunteers from the age of 12 and above could be considered for roles in operational and security areas, support and logistics, service and supplies or health and treatment.
In a televised interview on 26 March, Mr Nadali stated: "Given the ages that were making demands, we have set the [minimum] age at 12. Meaning now there are kids of 12 and 13 who want to be present in this space." He told Defa Press, a news agency affiliated with the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, that members of the public would be able to assist in intelligence patrols, stop and search tours and operational patrols. There were also roles for medical staff and in cooking food and distributing supplies for soldiers.
Human Rights Watch Condemns Child Recruitment as War Crime
Human Rights Watch, a US-based watchdog, said on Monday that the military recruitment and use of children was a violation of children's rights and a war crime when the children are under 15. "There is no excuse for a military recruitment drive that targets children to sign up, much less 12-year-olds," said Bill Van Esveld, associate children's rights director at HRW. "What this boils down to is that Iranian authorities are apparently willing to risk children's lives for some extra manpower."
Iran is bound by customary international law, which makes the recruitment of children under 15 a war crime. Thousands of people have been killed across the region in just over a month of fighting, which began when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran on 28 February.
Civilian Casualties Mount in Ongoing Conflict
US-based rights group HRANA said 3,486 people have been killed since the war erupted. It said 1,568 of those were civilians, including at least 236 children. Iranian officials say that at least 168 people, including about 110 children, were killed in an attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on the first day of the war. A preliminary investigation is said to have blamed a "mistake" by the US military, though a full probe is still pending.
The recruitment campaign has been promoted through flyers shared by the IRGC calling for the "registration of warriors, defenders of the homeland." Rights groups have emphasised that recruiting children for roles relating to conflict could amount to a war crime, highlighting the severe risks to young lives in the escalating violence.
