Presidential decree prohibiting the recruitment of children into the armed forces/groups

This decree, issued by President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi in 2020, builds on several laws and commitments made by the Yemeni government, including the Armed Forces Service Law of 1991, the Child Rights Law of 2002, Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the government’s 2014 commitments made amidst the National Dialogue Conference.

This decree:

• explicitly prohibits the recruitment or use of children under 18 in armed conflict and explicitly lists penalties for violations of the decree;
• includes steps required to establish child protection units and committees within military camps to assess and examine the age of new recruits;
• addresses hand-over protocols for already recruited children to child protection entities, in alignment with the Yemeni Minister of Human Rights’ previously signed roadmap with the United Nations Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting to implement the joint plan with the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of children; and
• identifies penalties for military or civilians involved in recruitment of children.

Regarding implementation, the issuance of this decree came at the time when Yemen was already in the midst of armed conflict, which has compromised all governing structures in the country. The armed conflict has impacted children on a large scale, and recruitment and use of children continues in the country.