Iran ‘sends Afghan teens to Syria war’
Human Rights Watch revealed yesterday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has recruited Afghan immigrant children to fight in Syria.
The New York-based advocate group said: “Afghan children as young as 14 have fought in the Fatemiyoun division, an exclusively Afghan armed group supported by Iran that fights alongside government forces in the Syrian conflict.”
The watchdog identified eight Afghan children who apparently were recruited, fought and died for the Fatemiyoun division in Syria by examining tombstones in cemeteries in Iran, cross-referencing them against the names of fighters reported dead in Iranian news reports.
Iranian media reports also corroborated some of these cases and reported at least six further instances of Afghan child soldiers who died in Syria.
Isa Rahimi, father of deceased Afghan solider Hassan Rahimi, said in November last year, “on his tomb, his birthday is printed as 1995, but his real birthday is 1999. He had lied about his age so they would allow him to join the forces easier”.
The group said that due to misrepresentations of some of the ages on tombstones it could “indicate that instances of Iran recruiting children to fight in Syria are likely to be more prevalent”.
Under international law, recruiting children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities is a war crime.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, urged Iranian authorities to end the recruitment of child soldiers and to ensure they bring back any Afghan children it has sent to fight in Syria.
“Rather than preying on vulnerable immigrant and refugee children, the Iranian authorities should protect all children and hold those responsible for recruiting Afghan children to account,” Ms Whitson said.
Since 2013, Iran has supported and trained thousands of Afghans, at least some of them undocumented immigrants, as part of the Fatemiyoun division, the watchdog reported.
Afghan fighters have also said they have seen children in training camps for Afghan forces.
“Ali”, a 29-year-old Afghan, told Human Rights Watch in August that he spoke to 16- and 17-year-old child soldiers who were being trained to fight in Syria.
In 2015, the Iranian interior ministry estimated that there were 2.5 million Afghans in Iran, many without paperwork.
The group urged the United Nations to investigate child recruitment by the IRGC, and the secretary general “should consider adding the organisation to his annual list of perpetrators of violations against children based on evidence of child recruitment”.