ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military alliance dismissed allegations Monday that it is recruiting children in areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES). UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported last week that, “recruiting children under the age of 18 continue[s] in the ranks of military factions operating in areas under the control” of the NES. The monitor claims the SDF recruited a 14-year-old girl two years ago, who still serves its Asayish forces in the Syrian city of al-Raqqah, “despite ongoing attempts by her family to bring her back.” Separately, social media was flooded with images of an 11-year-old girl supposedly from al-Hasakah province’s town of Amuda in the past weeks, who many users say was kidnapped by the SDF at the end of June. "Once again, the press and the hired pens return to accusations and lies against autonomous administration and its institutions," the SDF stated, claiming the Autonomous Administration "respects all international treaties and the texts of international humanitarian." The SOHR purports that the minor was taken to "clashes on [the] frontlines with Turkish forces and their proxies in north-eastern Syria." This is not the first time the SDF has been accused of child recruitment. The People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group which forms the backbone of the SDF, had been accused several times of recruiting child soldiers over the course of its war against the Islamic State group (ISIS). The SDF signed an Action Plan in June 2019 with the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of children in conflict. In its 2018 report on child recruitment in Syria, the UN said 263 boys and 152 girls had been recruited and used by Kurdish groups between 2013 and the first quarter of 2018.
