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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The UN’s agency that defends the rights of children described the 20 percent increase in the rate from 2015 to 2016 at which children were killed as “unprecedented” as the Syrian Civil War enters its sixth year and a concurrent ISIS insurgency raged.
“The depth of suffering is unprecedented. Millions of children in Syria come under attack on a daily basis, their lives turned upside down,” said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Each and every child is scarred for life with horrific consequences on their health, well-being and future.”
The UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported at least 652 children in 2016 were killed in a statement released on Sunday, which represented a 20 percent increase from the previous year; additionally, it stated 255 children were killed in or near a school.
UNICEF began formally verifying child casualties in 2014.
The report claims 850 children were recruited to fight, a two-fold increase from 2015.
“Children are being used and recruited to fight directly on the frontlines and are increasingly taking part in combat roles, including in extreme cases as executioners, suicide bombers or prison guards,” the release stated.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed in a December 2016 report that the People’s Defense Forces (HPG) has recruited and used child soldiers younger than 15-years-old to fight in the porous border regions between Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. HPG is the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which HRW others have stated is linked to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.
The PKK is a signatory party to the Geneva Call, an international nongovernmental organization that promotes adherence to the laws of war by armed groups, including prohibiting child soldiers. The PKK, responding to the December report from the HRW, said that they “strictly abide” by all international agreements, adding that representatives of Geneva Call have conducted on-site examinations of PKK camps.
“Despite the rare participation of underage youths in our ranks without our approval, our movement has laid emphasis on this issue and made efforts to fulfill the convention we are a party to," the PKK said then in a statement, " There are no fighters aged under 16 in our ranks. Those youths aged 16-17 who were forced to join our ranks after fleeing the repression and violence of the Turkish state are not involved in the battle by our movement, and these are receiving training in areas outside the battle field.”
HRW has claimed that ISIS has forced children to fight as Cubs of the Caliphate.’ Security officials in the Kurdistan Region have made similar claims after detaining juveniles for alleged membership in the group.
HRW has also claimed that children have fought with government rebels including the Free Syrian Army, Islamic Front coalition, Jabhat al-Nusra (an Al-Qaeda affiliate).
For logistical and security reasons, HRW’s reporting doesn’t cover all armed groups that allegedly have used children in Syria, in particular pro-government militias. Using children in armed conflict violates international law.
According to International Organization for Migration (IOM) statistics used by the UN’s agencies, more than 2.3 million children are refugees in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.
Numerous rounds of UN-led political negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, have failed to bring an end to the conflict, as have talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, between Syrian government and opposition factions brokered by Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
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