“The YPG, despite pledges to stop using child soldiers, is still recruiting children for military training in territory it controls,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, acting emergencies director at HRW.
The US-based NGO human rights advocate filed a report on Friday, citing a UN report, stating that the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Women's Protection Unit (YPJ) were found to have recruited 224 children in 2017 — nearly five times as many as in 2016.
The families of the recruits told HRW that "all said their children enlisted voluntarily."
“We are poor, so they told my daughter they would give her money and clothes,” the mother of a 13-year-old girl said, according to HRW.
One mother told HRW the family receives $300 monthly, but they do not have any communication with the recruits.
“It’s especially horrendous that the group is recruiting children from the vulnerable families in displacement camps without their parents’ knowledge or even telling them where their children are," added Motaparthy.
The US-led international anti-ISIS coalition partners with the SDF in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
"The United States government, which supports the Syrian Democratic Forces, should urge the group to end its use of child soldiers," HRW stated.
The mostly Kurdish YPG form the backbone of what US officials have described as the best partnered anti-ISIS forces.
In June, HRW sent a letter to Nouri Mahmoud, the spokesperson for the YPG. They asked several questions, including if children under the age of 18 are allowed to fight in combat.
"We would like to point out that the internal bylaws of the People’s and Women’s Protection Units include a prohibition on using those under 18 in offensive operations, either directly or indirectly. Rather, they are placed in special centers where they receive intellectual and occupational training," read the response from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political wing of the YPG.
HRW is calling on the YPG to "stop recruiting anyone under 18."
“Even if children are fleeing domestic violence or poverty, the YPG is not protecting them by recruiting them into their forces,” Motaparthy said. “If they are serious about helping these children, they should live up to their pledge and provide alternatives to ensure that the children don’t lose their future or their lives.”
As early as 2014, the YPG and YPJ announced they were decommissioning children from their ranks and offering them "educational classes."
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