Discussing the use of child soldiers in Yemen, the US State Department's annual report on trafficking in persons, issued in June, said:

"Despite a 1991 [Yemeni] law which stipulates that recruits to the armed forces must be at least 18 years of age, and assertions by the government that the military is in compliance with these laws, credible reports exist that children have been recruited into official government armed forces – as well as government-allied tribal militias and militias of the Houthi rebels – since the sixth round of the intermittent war in Sa’ada began in August 2009.

"A local NGO estimated that children under the age of 18 may make up more than half of some tribes’ armed forces, both those fighting with the government and those allied with the Houthi rebels."

The problem was also highlighted in the State Department's most recent human rights report on Yemen, published last March. It said:

"Reports of child soldiers increased in a number of armed conflicts across the country. According to the NGO Small Arms Survey, direct involvement in combat killed or injured hundreds of children annually.

"The intermittent conflict in Saada, which began again in August, reportedly drew underage soldiers fighting for the government and the rebel Houthis. The Houthis reportedly used children as runners in between groups of fighters as well as to carry supplies and explosives, according to local children's rights NGO Seyaj. Tribes [that] the government armed and financed to fight alongside the regular army used children younger than 18 in combat, according to reports by international NGOs such as Save the Children.

"Married boys, ages 12 to 15 years, were reportedly involved in armed conflict beginning in November 2008 in Amran governorate between the Harf Sufian and al-Osaimat tribes. According to tribal custom, boys who married were considered adults who owed allegiance to the tribe. As a result, half of the tribal fighters in such conflicts were children who had volunteered to demonstrate their tribal allegiance."

Introducing the human trafficking report in June, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said: "This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it."

Well, not quite. Child soldiers have been causing a legal problem for the US in its provision of military assistance to Yemen. This is because the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, adopted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2008, prohibits military financing, military training, and several other categories of US military assistance to governments using child soldiers, based on the findings of the Trafficking in Persons report.

The legal problem appears to have been resolved with a little-noticed memorandum signed by President Obama on Monday (and thanks to the emptywheel blog for pointing it out).

Basically, Obama has waived sections of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act which require US missions abroad to "thoroughly investigate reports of the use of child soldiers" and require the State Department to report such abuses to Congress, in relation to Yemen and three other countries (Chad, Congo and Sudan).

So now, everything is fine. Abuses in Yemen will not be investigated or reported. The US can legally continue sending military aid to Yemen and Yemen can continue using child soldiers.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 27 October 2010