Related videos:
UNICEF confirmed that it has received reports about mobilization campaigns in Iran that include children, and of minors working at checkpoints, and demanded that the Iranian government immediately halt any recruitment of minors.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched an official campaign on March 26 called "Defenders of the Homeland Fighters for Iran," which sets the minimum age for participation at 12 years.
Rahim Nadali, deputy chief of the Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of the IRGC in Greater Tehran, announced the initiative in Iranian state media and justified it by arguing that "children aged 12-13 want to be present in this space" and that there was a "high enthusiasm" among teenagers.
The recruited minors are assigned to checkpoints, operational patrols, and intelligence, and have been photographed carrying AK-47 assault rifles. Registration takes place at Basij bases located in mosques in Tehran and other cities, as well as at posts set up in public squares.
Amnesty International verified on April 2 at least 16 photos and videos published since March 21 showing children in Basij uniforms, wearing masks and carrying rifles at checkpoints, patrols, and state rallies in Tehran, Mashhad, and Kermanshah, and classified the recruitment of minors under 15 as a war crime under international humanitarian law.
One of the most emblematic cases is that of Alireza Jafari, an 11-year-old boy and fifth-grade student who died on March 10 in a drone attack at a Basij checkpoint on the Artesh highway in Tehran, while he was "on duty" alongside his father. The Basij Organization of Teachers confirmed his death on March 29, stating that he passed away "while fulfilling his duty."
The United States Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, reacted harshly on Monday: "The IRGC is openly recruiting 12-year-old children in clear violation of their international legal obligations. Sending children to perform military duties with assault rifles is not 'defending the homeland'; it is simply horrific. The Iranian regime has reached a new level of desperation and depravity. The world must stop treating these terrorists as a legitimate government."
Human Rights Watch urged Iran on March 30 to revoke the campaign and ban the recruitment of individuals under 18 years of age, highlighting the dangers they face due to airstrikes. The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights described the recruitment as a "systematic crime against children".
The campaign takes place in the context of the active war between Iran and the United States-Israel coalition, which began on February 28 with the so-called Operation Epic Fury, that has caused more than 1,900 deaths in Iran according to Iranian authorities, including 216 children. The unprecedented military pressure seems to have led the IRGC to resort to minors to address the personnel shortage in internal security functions.
From a legal standpoint, Iran ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, although with reservations regarding compatibility with Islamic law, and signed the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts in 2010 without ever ratifying it. International humanitarian law classifies the recruitment and use of children under 15 in hostilities as a war crime, and the broader standard prohibits the direct participation in hostilities by individuals under 18.
This is not the first time that the IRGC and the Basij have resorted to minors: during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), it is estimated that 95,000 children and adolescents died in mine clearance missions, and in the war in Syria, Human Rights Watch documented in 2017 at least 14 cases of Iranian children aged between 14 and 17 sent by the IRGC who were killed.
Filed under: