This is clear from the latest report prepared by the United Nations “Children and armed conflict”, which will be published soon. YPG militants continue to detain more than 800 minors under the pretext of “association” with other armed groups since last year. Violations and abuses at an “alarming” level throughout the country, violating the rights of children.
Damascus () – The Syrian Kurdish militias of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) forcibly recruited hundreds of child soldiers into their ranks in 2023. This is clear from a report by UN experts, which is being published in these moments and which also shows that the group continues to detain more than 800 children since the end of last year under the pretext that they would be “associated” with other armed groups.
In the document, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, highlighted at the same time the “alarming” number of rapes against minors, including children, in Syria, in all areas of the country, and called for respect for international laws on human rights and childhood. As for child soldiers, the confirmed number of those enlisted in the armed ranks in 2023 is 231.
The UN chief called for the unconditional and immediate release of all forcibly recruited and detained children, for which the Kurdish militias have been largely responsible during the 13-year Syrian conflict. At the same time, Guterres stressed that attacks on schools and hospitals must stop and should no longer be considered targets and used for military purposes by the various belligerent groups.
The report and its revelations about the YPG’s continued recruitment and kidnapping of children come just weeks after the signing of a UN action plan against one of the main rebel factions, the Syrian National Army (SNA). In the past, this group has also allegedly operated intensively to recruit child soldiers into its ranks, earning it a leadership position at the front of armed groups active in the conflict.
Child soldiers continue to be an emergency that must be addressed in Syria, a nation struggling to emerge from a decade of civil war, although today the situation, at least in terms of war, appears to be improving, while the humanitarian emergency continues. being elevated. Starting with the “poverty bomb”which today claims perhaps more victims than the weapons of the past.
To confirm a countertrend, it is enough to consult the similar UN report “Children and armed conflict”, relating to 2021, in which the number of minors involved or exploited in the conflict was around 2,000, of which 483 were recruited in the ranks of the People’s Protection Units (YPG). According to the UN study, the armed factions fighting against President Bashar al Assad were the ones that used child soldiers the most, with 1,518 recruits, the vast majority within the Syrian National Army (SNA) and Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (Hts).
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