Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty- fifth session

13–31 January 2014

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Yemen submitted under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/YEM/1)

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (15 pages maximum), if possible before 1 November 2013.

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights contained in the Optional Protocol during the dialogue with the State p arty.

Please provide information on the procedures in place for coordination on the implementation of the Optional Protocol,and for cooperation on related issues,between the Ministry of Human Rights and the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood; and the Ministries of Defence, Interior, Justice and Social Affairs, and Labour.

Please provide information on the inclusion of human rights, with particular emphasis on the provisions of the Optional Protocol and on international humanitarian law, in training for members of the armed forces, law enforcement officials and migration officers.

Please provide information on measures taken to address the difficulties mentioned in paragraph 19 of the report affecting the implementation of the Optional Protocol, in particular with respect to customs and traditions in some tribes which take a positive view of children bearingarms, as well as the increasingnumber and the widespread possession of unlicensed small arms in the State party.

Please provide data on the number of children recruited and used in hostilities by (a)the State party’s forces, including the armed forces, the military police, the special security forces, the Republican Guard, the pro-Government militias; (b) the breakaway First Armoured Division (FAD); and (c) the non-State party armed groups, including the Houthis and Ansar al-Sharia. Please indicate the steps taken to comply with the instructions directed to the armed and security forces issued by the Ministry of Interior and the President in April and November 2012 respectively, not to recruit or use persons under 18 years of age and to release those children who have been recruited in the State party. Please also provide information on any development with respect to the time-bound plan to prevent child recruitment pledged by the State party during the visit of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for children and armed conflict in November 2012.

Please provide updated information on the implementation of the November 2011 decree issued by the defector General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar of FAD ordering the release of 100 children who have been recruited and used in hostilities.

Taking into consideration the low birth registrations in the State party, please provide information on measures in place to ensure that those who wish to volunteer for the armed forces and police have attained 18 years at the time of volunteering, in line with Law No. 67 (1991). Please also provide updated information about the proposal to lower the age of volunteer recruitment mentioned in paragraph 33 of the report.

Please provide information on measures taken to explicitly criminalize in the national legislation violations of the Optional Protocol regarding the recruitment of children by armed forces and non-State armed forces as well as their use in hostilities. Please indicate whether “direct participation” is defined in the legislation.

Please provide updated information about the Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating human rights violations during the 2011 civil unrest, established by Presidential decree in September 2012. Please indicate whether this Commission has been mandated to investigate allegations of the recruitment of and use of children in hostilities.

Please provide detailed information on the implementation of the measures mentioned in paragraph 132 of the report, aiming at ensuring that children involved in the armed conflict are treated as victims. Please provide information on the number of children who have been prosecuted for participation in the 2011 civil unrest, the 2011-2012 conflict in Abyan and the 2004-2010 conflict in Sada’a, including information on the offences charged and sentences passed. In this regard, please include information on any cases where the death penalty has been passed or carried out. Please provide information on the number of children currently awaiting prosecution for crimes relating to their alleged participation in hostilities, indicating the crimes with which they have been charged.

Please provide further information on measures taken to ensure the release, recovery and reintegration of children associated with State armed forces, pro-Government militias, and non-State armed groups such as the Houthis and Ansar al-Sharia. Please provide data on the number of children incorporated in demobilization and reintegration programmes.

Given the fact that girls have been recruited and used by pro-government militias and the non-State armed groups, as documented by the United Nations (S/2011/250, para.197), please provide updated statistics on the number of girls who have benefited from demobilization and reintegration programmes. Please describe the measures and programmes established to meet their specific needs, including for psychological support, and to combat the stigmatization from which they suffer.