Why is the Basij Opposed to the Protocol on 'Preventing the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts'?

28 years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, no one knows exactly how many Iranian children and adolescents were killed on the battlefields. Mohsen Kazemini, the then-commander of the Mohammad Rasoulallah Corps, said a few years ago: 'One third of the combatants and one fourth of the martyrs of the Sacred Defense were cultural and student fighters.' Teenage students who went to the front lines with minimal military training. Hossein Fahmideh, whose story of going under a tank was included in children's textbooks, was just one of them. Now, in November, a few days after the anniversary of this 13-year-old's death in the Iran-Iraq war, news reports indicate that the 'Protocol on the Prevention of the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts' has been removed from the agenda of the Parliament. This protocol, which is one of three optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, obliges governments to recognize children's rights and prevent their involvement in war. According to this protocol, governments cannot use children and adolescents as combat soldiers on battlefields. This protocol does not recognize the death of Hossein Fahmideh. Although Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said: 'Our leader is that 13-year-old child who threw himself under the enemy's tank with a grenade and destroyed it, and he also drank the cup of martyrdom.' Ayatollah Khomeini also mentioned the 'bravery' of a child soldier, saying: 'Someone told me that I saw a 10 or 12-year-old child riding a motorcycle who went towards a tank and the tank crushed him, but such a spirit had developed that even a 12-year-old child would attack a tank with empty hands.' Now, 28 years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the head of the Cultural and Social Council of Women has stated to the Mehr News Agency that Iran's accession to the 'Protocol on the Prevention of the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts' is not in the country's interest. Kobra Khazaeli said that the bill for joining this protocol was removed from the agenda of the Islamic Consultative Assembly at the request of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Support after numerous protests from student organizations, the Basij, religious seminaries, and some revolutionary organizations. The preamble of this protocol, referencing the statute of the International Criminal Court, considers the enlistment of children under 15 years or their active participation in internal and international wars as a crime and obliges governments to criminalize this phenomenon. However, Khazaeli argues that such a protocol is not in the country's interest, as it would also prohibit voluntary defense efforts and affect many current activities. Mahnaz Parakand, a lawyer and legal expert, states: 'They are right; if they join this protocol, they would have to abolish all military training books prepared for boys in schools and taught to them. Many of the actions they are currently taking, for example, the minimum age for employment in the police force is 17 years, meaning under 18 years, and a series of these laws would need to be changed.' The head of the Cultural and Social Council of Women, by bringing up Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq in this discussion, speaks of the necessity of military training for children to defend themselves in conflicts in these areas. She says that children who are under 'barbaric attacks by ISIS' need military training. Parakand considers this justification inappropriate: 'The issue of self-defense is a separate matter, and we cannot use this issue to justify not joining this international protocol. Firstly, children must always be protected under any circumstances. Secondly, in emergency situations like those where everyone is killed, tortured, and captured, those who commit these acts are condemned, and we must fight against those ideas and beliefs, not train our children to adopt such beliefs and ideas and give them weapons to stand against the enemy when such situations may arise.' However, what ultimately removed the bill for Iran's accession to this protocol from the parliamentary agenda included protests from the so-called Basij forces in Iran. Why should the Basij oppose Iran's accession to the Protocol on the Prevention of the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts? Majid Mohammadi, a political analyst, states: 'Part of the Basij's activities, which are mainly cultural and religious, do not conflict with these protocols. The part of the Basij's activities that is military and uses individuals from around 13 to 18 or 19 years old in various armed activities, whether guarding different areas, controlling cars at night, or in war or armed conflicts, is where the Basij's activities conflict with child rights protocols.' He speaks of the religious ideology of the government that seeks to attract young people: 'The religious government in Iran wants a mass society. They are looking to form a 20-million army. They want to cover every citizen of society with such organizations, and naturally, young people are a target group for them.' State television and media close to the government often help incite public sentiment towards this effort. In programs like this, made in war-reconstructed areas and broadcast on Iranian television: '- I have found another Hossein Fahmideh named Amir Hossein... Sir Amir Hossein, why are you wearing these clothes? * So that they know where the martyrs were martyred. - Do you wear these clothes in your neighborhood too? * Yes - Why? * So that everyone knows I am a Basij. - You are a Basij... If you see an unknown martyr, what do you say to him? * I say I wish I had come too... - You also wanted to fight... * (Child crying) In child and human rights conventions, all individuals under 18 years are considered children. Although Iranian laws set a different age for the maturity of girls and boys, Mahnaz Parakand, citing international documents, argues that the right to send children to battlefields does not belong to those governments: 'According to international conventions and the laws of progressive countries, we know that a definition of a child has been made that all individuals under 18 are considered children. That means you cannot give weapons to individuals under 18 and send them to the battlefield, or ask them to take up arms in defense of the city or family or anything else and stand against the enemy. This is the definition that has been made for children under 18.' Another clause in the preamble of this protocol that has faced protests from the Basij and seminaries is the condemnation, along with deep concern, of the recruitment, training, and use of children in wars both domestically and internationally by armed groups separate from government forces and holding accountable those who recruit, train, and use children in warfare. Khazaeli states that this conflicts with the military training of individuals under 18 in the Basij Organization or the Student Basij Organization or the Ministry of Education. She says that the Islamic Republic of Iran, by joining this protocol, would be obliged to cease this training. This protocol holds governments responsible for sending individuals aged 15 to 18 to the front lines. Majid Mohammadi, a political analyst, states that for about four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has used children and adolescents in armed activities, but there has been little protest against this action: 'There are three fundamental problems in Iran that create the groundwork for adolescents or young people to be attracted to organizations like the Basij or the IRGC and take up arms. The first problem is the ignorance or lack of awareness of families about the rights of children and adolescents, which leads to their exploitation in a wide range from membership in the Basij to sexual exploitation by religious propagandists. The second problem is the indifference of reformist groups in Iran, who unfortunately have paid less attention to such rights, and the third point is the indifference of international organizations and communities. For about four decades, the Islamic Republic has used adolescents in armed activities, and we have heard little protest against this from international communities.' The protocol prohibiting the use of children in armed conflicts has now been removed from the agenda of the Iranian Parliament, but 28 years after the end of the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, the answer to this question remains crucial: Was Hossein Fahmideh a believing martyr or a victimized adolescent?