Iran recruits 12 year olds to “defend Homeland”

[Twiglets1]

Reported by the Telegraph that Iran is recruiting children as young as 12 to “defend the homeland” in a new nationwide campaign for the US- Israeli war.

Children will take part in surveillance, patrols and checkpoint inspections under new plans announced last week by the IRGC.

Registration booths have been set up at mosques and major city squares across Tehran, with similar campaigns expected in other cities.

Just days after the new recruitment campaign was launched, an 11 year old boy was killed in a drone strike at a military checkpoint in Tehran.

Alireza Jafari was stationed at the checkpoint, helping his father “to defend Iran”.

The Basij Teachers Organisation confirmed that Alireza was killed “while on duty” performing security tasks in a war that has already claimed nearly 1,600 civilian lives.

Alireza’s death highlighted concerns about the IRGC’s recruitment tactics for wartime security operations and its manpower problems.

The “Defenders of the Homeland Iran” was announced by Rahim Nadali, cultural and artistic director of the IRGC based in Tehran.

Mr Nadali told Iranian media: “ We launched a plan we call For Iran, which is a registration programme for homeland defence fighters … we set the Minimum age of 12 years and above”.

Not surprised...The young victims I am sure will be used for Iranian propaganda and some will lap this up.

The IRGC has no shame in recruiting 12 year olds to perform security tasks in the war … and if they get killed “while on duty” I expect that will be used as further evidence of their opponents lack of humanity killing children.

I hope that everyone reading this will put point scoring aside for a moment to acknowledge that children should not be recruited as “defence fighters” and this exemplifies how awful the current regime is.

It may show some desperation though in that Iranian security forces know they are being targeted so are actively seeking human shields (well worn tactic of Hamas). The police seem to be a disjointed militia currently and I wonder how much command and control there is within the ranks as well as supporting infrastructure.

"The Basij Teachers Organisation confirmed that Alireza was killed “while on duty” performing security tasks in a war that has already claimed nearly 1,600 civilian lives."

Awful.

They know it works since obviously, no one wants to hear about children being killed, hence they will use them if they can. No regard for their own children if they are happy to use them like this.

However, this is a regime that slaughtered thousands of young people protestering against them, so they don't appear to care for their own anyway.

A state that doesn't care about its own and also a global threat is very dangerous to many.

Yes children should not be recruited by any country or any group to be used in such a way.

The fact that a teaching organisation appears to be endorsing it … awful.

Nothing surprises me with Iran.

Well they think nine year old girls are old enough to marry, so no surprise that they are prepared to exploit boys as well.

I'll be honest, I checked that, I thought it was 13. Still too young and abusive, in my opinion though.

"In Iran, the current legal minimum age for marriage is 13 for girls. However, under Article 1041 of the Civil Code, it is legally possible for a girl to be married at the age of 9 or younger with the permission of her father or male guardian and the approval of a competent court." GRIM

"This provision means there is effectively no absolute minimum age for marriage in Iran. While the legal age of majority for a girl is considered 9 lunar years (8 years and 9 months), the marriage must still be deemed to be in the "best interest" of the child by a judge, though this is often determined only by a simple medical certificate"

OTHER INFORMATION

Key points regarding child marriage in Iran:
Prevalence: Child marriage is a significant issue, particularly in rural and deprived areas due to poverty, tradition, and lack of education. Official statistics record tens of thousands of marriages of girls under 15 annually.
Legal vs. Unregistered Marriages: The official figures only account for registered marriages. Many other unions, including temporary marriages (Sigheh), go unregistered to circumvent the law, making the actual number of child marriages higher.
International Standards: The practice conflicts with international human rights standards, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which defines a child as anyone under 18. Iran ratified the CRC but made a reservation to articles that contradict its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
Advocacy for Change: Activists and some reformist politicians have advocated for raising the minimum marriage age to 18, but a bill in 2018 to raise the age to 16 for girls was dismissed by a parliamentary committee.
BBC Monitoring

Child brides in Iran: tradition, poverty and resisting change - BBC Monitoring
26 Apr 2019 — Child brides in Iran: tradition, poverty and resisting change. ... More than half a million children, some as young as eight, get married every year in Iran.

I think many ignore how some countries treat their children, it's quite alien to many of us who see children as children. Not to fight for the regime or marry adult males when still children.

I very much feel for the people there who don’t want this.

Another reason why there needs to be a ceasefire. This crazy war that should never have started needs to end, there is enough suffering in Iran as it is.

Yes Tousi TV reported this a few days ago. Pictures of excited young boys holding weapons. So terribly wrong and sad. And of course if the US/Israel kill any then it'll be 'oooh look they're child killers!'

The issue is what is being suffered is still horrendous.

Yes, Iran bringing in children to fight is awful. I know why they do it, a bit like why they bomb random countries, it's another tactic that they use to fight. They will use all the dirty tricks they can, children, bombing coutries not involved, threatening ships, nothing is out of bounds for a country that slaughtered thousands of it's own young people for merely protesting against the regime.

The poor people have been suffering this for decades. I just saw a video of women raising up against the hijab soon after 1979, what happened to them was woeful.

And since then brutal suppression of any uprising.

So even if it stops the main difference is everyone will look away again. In fact many still are now.

Yes I agree, many look away anyway. Although, I think the US started the war due to the concerns over Iran getting closer to nuclear warhead capabilities so to protect itself and not for the people of Iran.

When Costa Rica had no standing army, and were attacked, they said they'd send out their boy scouts. The international community rightly censured the other country (can't remember if it has El Salvador or Nicaragua) and the conflict subsided.

It was a ploy to show the actual consequences of war.

Unfortunately neither Israel nor the US has any qualms about killing children and it won't work.

That’s true although the same ideological and brutal extremism which underpins this thread title, and how any uprising is treated, means no one wants them to have nuclear weapons either.

And the current war has made things worse for the Iranian people, they are dying from the bombs. How does making their lives worse help? The bombs must stop.

I saw a video of an Iranian photojournalist at a recent placard event very emotional, saying you don’t get it we’re raped, imprisoned, we live it. What are you doing? Think about it.’

Nearly in tears. Very powerful. I wish more would listen.

The numbskulls at that march on Saturday waving banners saying “We side with Iran” . Not “stop the war” or some such - actual support for a very frightening regime.

Has the US expressed shame at bombing a primary school, and then – for good measure – bombing it again 40 minutes later when parents and rescuers where trying to big out the children?

I'll wait.

The pain in the woman’s voice. The absolute blankness in the placard holder.

Does Iran have no standing army? Why the need to send children?