Tehran, Mar 13 (ANI): Human Rights activists have warned that Iran's Islamic regime is using "child soldiers" to suppress anti-government demonstrations, raising concerns that the international law to avoid using underage combatants is being compromised.
The UN convention on the rights of the child requires states to take "all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities".
However, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said that troops aged between 14 and 16 have been armed with batons, clubs and air guns and ordered to attack demonstrators who have tried to gather in Tehran, The Guardian reports.
They also warned that the youths, apparently recruited from rural areas, are being deployed in regular riots.
A middle-aged woman, who said she was attacked by the youths, said that her attackers were as young as 12, and had rural accents. She also claimed of hearing from others that they had been attracted in similar ways.
The paper quoted Hadi Ghaemi, the campaign's Executive Director, as saying that: "It's really a violation of international law. It's no different than child soldiers, which is the custom in many zones of conflict. They are being recruited into being part of the conflict and armed for it."
The allegations have come amid efforts by Iran's opposition Green movement to revive the mass protests that challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009, which opponents say was rigged. (ANI)
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