A human rights organization has accused Egypt of allegedly recruiting child soldiers for its ongoing operation in North Sinai province.
Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) claimed that Egypt is committing crimes that can be defined as “war crimes” by allegedly taking kids to fight in its conflict against an armed insurgency.
SFHR, which is a rights group based in the United Kingdom, allegedly said on Saturday after interviews with teenagers that Mohamed Moussa Zire’e was recruited in 2021 when he was only 17 years old.
According to the human rights organization, the report was shared after in-depth interviews with 15 relatives of children who were allegedly recruited by the Egyptian armed forces or pro-government militias.
The report claims some of the children who had allegedly been recruited by the Egyptian army were either injured or killed while fighting groups in North Sinai province.
The report allegedly claims also that the Egyptian army made children, who were aged between 15 and 18, to spy or deliver food supplies, which exposed their lives to danger as they were exposed to [the ISIS local branch].
One of the child soldiers, who didn’t reveal his identity, allegedly said in an interview with Sinai Foundation for Human Rights: “In 2020…I could participate in war. In the beginning, I was afraid, I was only 17, but my uncle and an officer trained me in fire arming for almost two months. When I learned, I wanted to participate, so I quit school.”
