Yemen's Houthi rebels have agreed to rid their ranks of child soldiers, who have fought by the thousands during the country's seven years of civil war, the United Nations said Monday.
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The Houthis signed what the UN.described as an "action plan" to end and prevent recruiting or using children in armed conflict, killing or maiming children and attacking schools and hospitals. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the rebels committed to identifying children in their ranks and releasing them within six months.
One of the Houthis top diplomats, Abdul Eluh Hajar, signed the agreement. Representatives from the UN's children's agency posed with Houthi officials for the media at a ceremony to mark the agreement in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The Houthis called it a plan to protect children.
Yemen's internationally recognized government, which is operating in exile, made similar commitments in several documents signed since 2014, the UN said.
Virginia Gamba, the UN's top official looking out for children in war zones, called the Houthis' move "a positive and encouraging step," but she noted that "the most difficult part of the journey starts now."
The UN says nearly 3,500 children have been verified as recruited and deployed in Yemen's civil war. However, a senior Houthi military official told The Associated Press in 2018 that the group had inducted 18,000 child soldiers into its army by then, and former child soldiers told the news cooperative that boys as young as 10 were recruited.
