{"id":9860,"date":"2020-05-05T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/child-recruitment-by-parties-to-conflict-in-syria-a-lasting-phenomenon\/"},"modified":"2020-05-04T19:57:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T16:57:06","slug":"child-recruitment-by-parties-to-conflict-in-syria-a-lasting-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stj-sy.org\/en\/child-recruitment-by-parties-to-conflict-in-syria-a-lasting-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cChild Recruitment\u201d by Parties to Conflict in Syria, a Lasting Phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Executive Summary <\/strong><\/h4>\n

More than nine years into the start of the protests\/conflict in Syria, violations of the rights of children continue to be committed\u2014 whether killing and subjecting them to violence in detention centers or recruitment and repeatedly using them in military operations by all parties to the conflict throughout Syria, though the numbers of recruits vary from one party to another.<\/p>\n

Seeking to document human rights violations, Syrians for Truth and Justice\/STJ obtained information and testimonies covering new cases of child recruitment in different Syrian regions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of the cases recorded by STJ\u2019s field researchers, at least (6) children were taken into the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces\/SDF, operating in Northeastern Syria. These cases indicate that the SDF has not yet demonstrated full commitment to preventing the recruitment of children, though it had signed an action plan providing for ending and preventing the recruitment of children under the age of 18 on June 29, 2019, at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. However, STJ had also documented SDF\u2019s demobilization of three children, while three others were still recruited within its ranks when this report was prepared, namely in mid-April 2020.<\/p>\n

On the same note, STJ registered a rise in child recruitment in the area of Ras al-Ayn \/ Sari Kani, al-Hasakah province, one month after the offensive Peace Spring was launched against the SDF by Turkey, with the support of the Syrian National Army\/SNA of the Syrian Interim Government \/ the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces in October 2019. In the area, at least three cases of child recruitment were documented, carried out between late 2019 and early 2020 by the armed groups of Ahrar al-Sharqiya\/ Rebels of the Eastern Area and Sultan Murad Brigade. The children continue to be recruited to the day.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the areas outside the Syrian government\u2019s control, particularly in Idlib province, Northwestern Syria, STJ’s field researchers reported that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham\/HTS had recruited dozens, if not hundreds, of children under the age of 18. To do so, HTS started several recruitment campaigns, in conjunction with the military operations that the Syrian regular forces and their allies carried out against it in Idlib in late 2019 and early 2020.\u00a0 Of the many campaigns, two were the most effective,\u00a0 \u201cJahid be-Nafsak\/Invest Yourself in the Strife\u201d\u00a0 and \u201cInfiro Khifafan wa-Thikalan\/Go Forth, whether Light or Heavy\u201d, which primarily targeted residents of IDP camps near the Turkish-Syrian border strip, especially children, luring them with money and the idea of Jihad\/holy strife for the cause of God.<\/p>\n

In areas held by the Syrian government and its loyalist militias also, child recruitment never stopped, particularly in the city of Damascus and its countryside. There, STJ\u2019s researchers monitored the National Defense Forces\u2019 persistence on enlisting children, in addition to the Iranian militias backing them, for they both had used children in military operations.<\/p>\n

In reports published in 2019 and 2018, STJ documented the stories of a number of children who have been enlisted by all parties to the conflict in Syria, including the SDF, which recruited two minor girls within the ranks of its affiliated Women’s Protection Units\/YPJ.\u00a0 The recruits are Sulaima Abdulrahman Ali, 14, and Awish Bouzan Bouzan, 16, who were later demobilized. A third girl, Yasmeen Aref, 17, however, was killed after joining the forces.[1]<\/a> Jamal Jalal Jabou, 15, from Afrin, was recruited by SDF in 2019 and was discharged later.[2]<\/a> STJ\u2019s reports, moreover, document the recruitment of several children by HTS and the Syrian government\u2019s National Defense Forces.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Report Methodology<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This report is based on a total of (14) testimonies and interviews, including six that STJ had conducted with parents of children, whom SDF had enlisted in Northeastern Syria.<\/p>\n

\u00a0STJ\u2019s field researcher had also obtained the testimony of the parents whose three children were recruited by the Turkey-backed SNA, affiliated with the Syrian Interim Government \/ the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces in the area of Ras Al-Ayn\/Sari Knai after the operation Peace Spring was started by the Turkish forces and the SNA\u2019s armed groups there. In addition to the parents\u2019 account of the incident, the testimony of a media activist, based in the region, is included in the report.<\/p>\n

This report records the stories of two children, who got recruited within the ranks of the HTS in Idlib Province, told by their parents.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the report documents the details of the recruitment of two other children, who were forced to join a militia known for its loyalty to the Syrian government in Damascus and its countryside\u2014 namely the National Defense Forces, and to Iranian militias, as well.<\/p>\n

These witnesses were interviewed by STJ\u2019s field researchers between January and late March 2020, given that some were met in person, while others were contacted via the Internet.<\/p>\n

Additional to the above listed interviews, STJ had relied on several open sources (articles – videos \u2013 photos, etc.), as to crosscheck the information and attain evidence of the cases documented in the report.<\/p>\n

1. Six Children at Least were Recently Recruited by the SDF: <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Operating in Northeastern Syria, the SDF has not yet shown full commitment to preventing child recruitment, even though, given the blessings of the Autonomous Administration, it had signed an action plan to end and prevent enlistment of children under the age of 18, at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, on June 29, 2019.\u00a0 Under this plan, the SDF was supposed to commit itself to fully end and prevent recruitment and deployment of children, as well as to discharging those already fighting within its ranks. The SDF had also to take preventive and disciplinary measures regarding the recruitment and use of children.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Displaying little adherence to the action plan, the SDF had in\u00a0 late 2019 and early 2020 taken six children at least into its ranks in the Sheikh Maqsoud Neighborhood in Aleppo and the al-Shahba area in\u00a0 northern rural Aleppo. Among the recruits were teenage boys Hassan, 16, S. Issa, 16, and R. Othman 16. At different intervals in 2020, the children were discharged, after their parents made a media appeal, demanding that the SDF demobilizes their minor children.<\/p>\n

For their part, the underage girls Aisha Mohammad, 15, Yasmeen Rashid, 14, and Sultana Bakr, 16, were yet held as recruits under the SDF when this report was being prepared, mid-April 2020. It is worth mentioning that the girls\u2019 status continues to be thus despite their relatives’ constant plea for the SDF to let them go, who provided STJ with these details.<\/strong><\/p>\n