Militarization of school children by the Revolutionary Guards

The Revolutionary Guard Corps has taken steps to paramilitaryize school children, contrary to international standards.

Contrary to the international commitments of the Islamic Republic government to "prohibit the use of children in military and law enforcement forces," the executive and coordination officer of the "Ashura" jihadist group in Fars Province and an official of the Basij Organization affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Qazvin announced that at least two thousand students in Qazvin Province and 1,340 students in Fars Province have participated in a shooting skills course.

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child is defined as an individual under the age of 18, and Iran has been a party to this convention since 1973. According to this commitment, the employment of children and adolescents in military and law enforcement affairs is prohibited. However, the Islamic Republic has ignored this part of the commitment, such as child labor, punishment, execution, legal marriage of children, etc., by military training and employing people under the age of 18.

According to Mohammad Pournour Ali, the executive and coordination officer of the Ashura Jihadi Group, 1,340 students in Fars Province will be sent to the shooting range. He noted that this is being done to recruit children and adolescents for the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to his statements, this operation will be held in a simulated environment with embankments, canals, tunnels, trenches, explosions, minefields, practice and illuminated shooting, barbed wire barriers, various types of heavy equipment and tents. Pournour Ali emphasized that the location of this camp is designed to be very safe, because in this camp, students will be taught about military equipment, enemy identification, astronomy, physical fitness and some war literature in a camp called "Sangar Aseman".

Other topics taught to students in this camp, contrary to international obligations, include "Capturing the Enemy" and "Conquering the Joint Listening Suppression Base of the United States, Britain, and Israel."

According to Mohammad Pournour Ali, the operation will be completed within 120 minutes. According to him, the operation has been carried out more than four hundred times in different regions of the country over a period of fourteen years.

The head of the student mobilization in Qazvin also announced that in addition to holding military courses, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also teaches the contents of the military ideology of the Islamic Republic to male and female students. He emphasized that not only are trainings provided to students under the titles of "The Power of Defending the Islamic Revolution," "Introduction to the Structure and Goals of the Basij Organization," and "Education of Sacred Defense," but also that all ninth, tenth, and twelfth grade male and female students who took the "Defense Preparedness" course are also introduced to the concepts and ideals of "seeking martyrdom."

It should be noted that since the start of nationwide protests in Iran since Shahrivar 1401, the Islamic Republic regime has also used children among its repressive forces. Also, available documented reports show that the Islamic Republic regime has been using children in its military forces extensively and systematically since the beginning of the 1979 revolution.