Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Yemen (Ratification: 2000)

Article 3(a) of the Convention. All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. Compulsory recruitment of children for armed conflict. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Government representative of Yemen, during the discussion at the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2014, acknowledged the serious situation of children in his country due to their involvement in armed conflict. The Committee also noted the Government’s statement that it had signed an action plan in 2014 to end and prevent the recruitment of children by armed forces with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. This action plan sets out concrete steps to release all children associated with the government security forces, reintegrate them into their communities and prevent further recruitment. The Committee noted that the measures to be undertaken within this action plan included: (i) aligning domestic legislation with international norms and standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict; (ii) issuing and disseminating military orders prohibiting the recruitment and use of children below the age of 18; (iii) investigating allegations of recruitment and use of children by Yemeni government forces and ensuring that responsible individuals are held accountable; and (iv) facilitating access to the United Nations to monitor progress and compliance with the action plan. The Committee noted that the Conference Committee, while noting the adoption of this action plan, expressed its serious concern at the situation of children under 18 years being recruited and forced to join government forces or the armed groups.

The Committee further noted from the Government’s report that the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Prime Minister have reiterated their commitment to implementing the measures agreed upon in the action plan so as to end the illegal recruitment of children by the armed forces. It noted, however, that according to the report of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Security Council of May 2014, the United Nations documented the recruitment of 106 boys between 6 and 17 years of age; the killing of 36 children; and the maiming of 154 children.

The Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, that in 2012, a Presidential Decree prohibiting the recruitment of children in the armed forces was adopted. It also notes the Government’s statement that the action plan to put an end to the recruitment and use of children by the armed forces, which was concluded in 2014, has been hindered due to the worsening of the armed conflict since 2015. The Committee notes from the UNICEF report entitled Falling through Cracks: The Children of Yemen, March 2017, that at least 1,572 boys were recruited and used in the conflict, 1,546 children were killed and 2,458 children were maimed. The Committee also notes from the Report of the Ministry of Human Rights, 2018, on the increasing number of conscripted children by the Houthi militias and their methods of mobilizing these children to fight on front lines. According to this report, the percentage of children recruited by the Houthi militia has increased tenfold since 2016. The number of child soldiers among this group has reached more than 15,000. The report further indicates that children recruited by this group are forced to use psychotropic substances and drugs, and are used in attempts to penetrate Saudi borders. They are also trained to use heavy weapons, to lay landmines and explosives and are also used as human shields. The Committee notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations on the report submitted by the Government of Yemen under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, of February 2014, expressed serious concern about the presence of children within the armed forces; about the recruitment of children, including girls by the pro-Government tribal militias; and about the continuous recruitment and use of children in hostilities by the non-State armed groups (CRC/C/OPAC/YEM/CO/1, paragraphs 22, 24 and 27).

The Committee deeply deplores the use of children in armed conflict in Yemen, especially as it entails other violations of the rights of the child, such as abductions, murders and sexual violence. It recalls that, under Article 3(a) of the Convention, the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour and that, under Article 1 of the Convention, member States must take immediate and effective measures to secure the elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take measures, using all available means, to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and groups, including through the effective implementation of the national action plan to put an end to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, 2014. It once again urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions of all persons who forcibly recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict are carried out, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice. It requests the Government to provide information on the number of investigations conducted, prosecutions brought and convictions handed down against such persons.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the information from the Government’s fourth periodic report to the CRC of 2012, on the policies and implementation actions taken to reduce the gender gap in school enrolment and the positive results achieved. However, the Committee noted that according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the net enrolment rates was low with 76 per cent (82 per cent boys and 69 per cent girls) in primary education and 40 per cent (48 per cent boys and 31 per cent girls) in secondary education. It also noted from the UNICEF Yemen Situation report of August 2013 that according to the findings of the Out of School Children Survey conducted by UNICEF in Al Dhale governorate, 78 per cent of the 4,553 children who dropped out of school were girls.

The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any information on this matter. The Committee notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of February 2014, expressed its concern at: the significant disparities in the enrolment rates of girls to basic education among the governorates of the State party and the gender gap in school enrolment rates; the persistence of traditional attitudes and beliefs that girls should not be educated, in particular in rural areas; as well as child marriages and low number of female teachers which contribute to the high rates of girls dropping out of school (CRC/C/YEM/CO/4, paragraph 69). Considering that education is key in preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system in the country and to facilitate access to free basic education for all children, especially girls, by increasing the school enrolment rates at the primary and secondary levels and by decreasing their drop-out rates. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, removing them from such work and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. Children in armed conflict and hazardous work. The Committee previously noted that the Conference Committee, in its conclusions, strongly encouraged the Government to provide access to free basic education for all children, particularly children removed from armed conflict and children engaged in hazardous work, with special attention to the situation of girls. In this regard, the Conference Committee called on the ILO member States to provide assistance to the Government of Yemen and encouraged the Government to avail itself of ILO technical assistance in order to achieve tangible progress in the application of the Convention.

The Committee notes from the Report of the Ministry of Human Rights, 2018, that workshops and civil society campaigns on the rehabilitation of child soldiers are being carried out and rehabilitation centres were opened for children withdrawn from armed conflict. Hundreds of child soldiers recruited by militias have been released and provided with medical care. This report further indicates that the Government of Yemen, in cooperation with the Arab Coalition and the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF, received 89 child soldiers who were recruited by the Houthi militia and deployed along the borders, out of which 39 children were rehabilitated and returned to their families. The Committee urges the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures to ensure that child soldiers removed from armed groups and forces as well as children removed from hazardous work receive adequate assistance for their rehabilitation and social integration including reintegration into the school system or vocational training, wherever possible and appropriate. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.