Iran accused of recruiting children as young as 12 for wartime roles as US-Israel strikes intensify, rights groups warn of war crimes. Photo: Gemini.
As the Iran-US war continues to intensify, with Iranian civilian infrastructure being targeted now, new reports are emerging revealing the uglier sides of the conflict. According to reports, human rights groups have accused Iran’s authorities of encouraging children as young as 12 to join the war.
Reports say the campaign has been launched to mobilise children as the country faces mounting military pressure from the United States and Israel.
According to a report by the NY Post, the recruitment drive was announced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under a program titled “Homeland Defending Combatants for Iran.”
The campaign was reported by Human Rights Watch, which said the campaign was launched as US and Israel continue to strike Iran.
Promotional material for the campaign, published by Iran’s Defa Press News Agency, reportedly features two smiling children, a boy and a girl, standing in front of a man wearing a military uniform.
In a televised interview aired on Iranian state television, Rahim Nadali, an official with the IRGC’s 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division, said many young people had expressed a desire to participate in security activities.
Speaking about the situation, Nadali said teenagers had been asking to join security checkpoints set up across cities.
“For the Basij checkpoints that you see across cities now, we have had many young people and teenagers demanding to be present in them,” he said.
He added that the authorities decided to establish a minimum age requirement after receiving repeated requests from younger individuals.
“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.”
According to Agence France-Presse, the roles assigned to the participants include staffing checkpoints, gathering security-related information, and participating in operational patrols.
Additional duties reportedly involve cooking, providing medical assistance, and helping residents deal with damaged homes.
Human rights groups say Iran has a long history of recruiting minors during times of conflict.
Iranian officials have previously acknowledged deploying large numbers of child soldiers during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s.
According to Amnesty International, more than 550,000 children were deployed during the conflict, with at least 36,000 reported killed.
Rights groups say the recruitment of minors for military purposes violates international law.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, condemned the practice.
“The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC-run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military,” she said.
She further warned, “Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime.”
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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