Amnesty International warns Iran that the recruitment of children to the IRGC is a war crime

Amnesty International is warning Iran that its recruitment of children as young as 12 for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ all-volunteer Basij paramilitary amounts to a war crime.

The IRGC put out the call for new recruits and lowered the minimum age of recruitment to 12 recently, as the Basij finds its checkpoints under attack during the war with the United States and Israel.

Amnesty also says that eyewitnesses and its own analysis of video footage “show child soldiers having been deployed” to checkpoints and patrols, some armed with weapons including Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.

“As US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of (Guard) sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside (Guard) personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury,” Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International says.