Iraqi Sunni militia groups 'recruiting refugee children to fight IS'

Iraqi Sunni militia groups have recruited refugee children as young as 15 to fight the Islamic State (IS) group, a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

HRW said two tribal militia groups had recruited at least seven children from the Debaga camp and drove them to a town close to Mosul, where Iraqi security forces were preparing an offensive to kick IS out of the city. 

The Debaga camp is 40km south of Erbil and houses more than 35,000 people forced from their homes by fighting between government forces and IS. 

Residents of Debaga told HRW that two militias commanded by Nishwan al-Jabouri and by Maghdad al-Sabawy, the son of the recently deceased commander Fares al-Sabawy had been recruiting from the camp for months. 

Two residents from Debaga also told HRW that two large trucks arrived in the evening of 14 August and took away 250 new recruits, seven of which were under the age of 18, to join Jabouri's forces.

A camp resident told HRW that 10 of his sons, including a son who was 15 or 16 years old, had joined militia groups that recruited more than 350 fighters.

The resident, from Khabata, told HRW that one of his sons went along to be recruited into the militia groups "but sent him home because they said he was too young".

Bill Van Esveld, the senior children's right researcher at HRW, said: "The recruitment of children as fighters for the Mosul operation should be a warning for the Iraqi government.” 

"The government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul.”

The Hashd al-Asari, made up of local Sunni fighters, are expected to play a key role in Mosul military operations, while the government may order the mainly Shia militias of the Popular Mobilisation Forces to stay out of the Mosul fighting. 

A 20-year-old militia fighter told HRW that the groups accused of recruiting children were fighting alongside Iraqi government forces and that their monthly salaries of $375 were paid by Baghdad.

“One week then get a break at home for one week, back and forth. We are fighting alongside the [army], and our salaries are paid by Baghdad, we are basically part of the Iraqi military," the fighter told HRW. 

The UN Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which the Iraqi government ratified in 2008, prohibits national armies and non-state armed groups recruiting and using children in battle under the age of 18. 

IS and various militia groups operating in Iraq have been heavily criticised for using child soldiers on its frontlines. 

HRW, earlier this year, documented how Iraqi Shia militias and IS have both been using children to fight on the frontlines of Iraq as they both fight for power in Iraq. 

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.