A/HRC/45/CRP.7
victims’ refusal to recruit students or their opposition to Houthi directives inciting violence
in schools.444
292. The Group verified the case of one male school principal and, in a second case, the
son (aged 14) of another school principal, both of whom were first disappeared, and then
detained and tortured, including being subject to interrogation about the principals’
educational activities. Prison guards also allegedly attempted to recruit the 14-year-old boy
while he was in detention.445 Moreover, prior to release, some educators were forced to sign
confessions stating that they would no longer object to or interfere in Houthi activities in their
schools, including child recruitment.
293. Educator accounts obtained by the Group show the complex linkages between
education and child recruitment in Houthi-controlled territory, in which the risks of child
recruitment or violent punishment for opposition to it are omnipresent for students and
teachers alike.
4.
Violations
Legal Findings
294. The Group of Experts found reasonable grounds to believe that the Houthis, the
Government of Yemen and the coalition have continued to violate children’s right to
education and to recruit and use children in hostilities in contravention of international human
rights law and international humanitarian law. Enlisting children under the age of 15 years
into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities is a war crime.
The Group of Experts also concludes that the military use of schools and violations against
educators limit children’s already precarious access to education during the conflict, while
the indoctrination activities by the Houthis undermine the proper aims of education to
develop respect for human rights, and to prepare children for responsible life in a free society.
295. It further finds that the Houthis violated educators’ rights to liberty and security of
person, as well as their rights to freedom of expression.
G. Treatment of specific groups
Applicable law
-
Freedom of religion/Religious Discrimination
296. International human rights law guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and
religion.446 The freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be restricted, but only as
provided by law and as necessary for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, as
well as for the protection of national security, public safety, order, health or morals. Religion
is a prohibited ground of discrimination under international human rights law (see nondiscrimination below), such that all persons have the right to enjoy their human rights without
discrimination on the basis of their religion.447
-
Rights of minorities
297. Members of minorities are entitled to enjoy the full range of civil, political, economic,
social and cultural human rights as other members of the community, without discrimination
on prohibited grounds. This includes, for instance, not being subjected to arbitrary detention,
enjoying rights to life and physical integrity, being afforded fair trial rights, and enjoying
economic, social and cultural rights such as the right to work, the right to the highest
attainable standard of health, and the right to an adequate standard of living. International
human rights law also recognises specific rights attaching to members of ethnic, religious or
444
Confidential sources on file.
Confidential sources on file.
446 ICCPR, art. 18.
447 ICCPR, arts. 2(1), 26; ICESCR, art. 2(2). Similar guarantees of non-discrimination are contained
in other core international human rights instruments.
445
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