A United Nations report
released online yesterday highlights the awful suffering that
children in Syria have endured throughout that country’s ongoing
civil war. Writing in the report, U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon
said, “The suffering endured by the children in the Syrian Arab
Republic since the outset of the conflict, as documented in this
report, is unspeakable and unacceptable.”
The report details how government forces have been torturing
children allegedly associated with rebel groups:
Multiple accounts of children and adult witnesses indicate that
the majority of children were held in the same cells as
adults, and that children as young as 11 years old suffered
ill treatment and acts tantamount to torture to extract confessions
or humiliate them or to pressure a relative to surrender or
confess. Ill treatment and acts tantamount to torture
reportedly included beatings with metal cables, whips
and wooden and metal batons; electric shocks, including to the
genitals; the ripping out of fingernails and toenails; sexual
violence, including rape or threats of rape; mock executions;
cigarette burns; sleep deprivation; solitary confinement; and
exposure to the torture of relatives. Reports indicate that
children were also suspended from walls or ceilings by their
wrists or other limbs, were forced to put their head, neck and
legs through a tire while being beaten, and were tied to a board
and beaten.
The U.N. report is the latest to exposes the extent of the Assad
regime’s brutality. Last month,
a report was released detailing the slaughter of thousands of
detainees carried out by government forces.
While the scale of the Assad regime’s barbarism is always worth
highlighting, it should be noted that the U.N. report also mentions
that rebels associated with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army
(FSA) have been recruiting children to be used in combat. The FSA
does not have children recruitment as a policy, but some boys feel
pressured to join the fight against Assad:
The FSA Code of Conduct of August 2012 did not mention or
prohibit the recruitment and use of children. However, monitoring
and verification activities indicated that it was not conducted as
a policy or systematically. Interviews with children and their
parents indicated that the loss of parents and relatives, political
mobilization and peer pressure from families and communities,
contributed to the involvement of children with FSA-affiliated
groups. Many boys stated that they felt it was their duty to join
the opposition.
More from the report on the FSA’s recruitment:
13. Boys aged 12 to 17 years were trained, armed and used as
combatants or to man checkpoints. For instance, a 15-year-old
boy reported having been recruited in April 2012 by FSA in
Tall Kalakh (Tartus governorate), and having participated
in military operations.
The report also mentions reports of Syrian government forces
recruiting child soldiers:
The United Nations did not receive reports of children having
been formally recruited by Government forces. However, Government
forces, including the Shabiha militia and the popular
committees/National Defence Forces, reportedly intimidated and
seized young males, including those under the age of 18, to join
their ranks at checkpoints and during raids in pro-Government and
contested areas. In one instance in July 2012, a man reported to
the United Nations that the Syrian Armed Forces had tried to
recruit his 16-year-old son while they were passing a checkpoint in
Deir ez-Zor governorate.
The FSA is not the only rebel group mentioned in the report. The
report refers to rebel groups, such as the jihadist group Jabhat
al-Nusra, which have allegedly killed children. The report claims
that “Armed opposition groups” summarily execute children.
28. Children were the victims of mass killings in Latakia
governorate that were committed by a coalition of armed opposition
groups allegedly including Ahrar al-Sham, ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra,
Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar and Suqour al-Izz during the
so-called Barouda offensive against Alawite villages on 4 August
2013. At least 18 children, including boys and girls under the age
of 10, were killed and an unknown number of children were maimed.
Most children were shot in their houses or while trying to flee
with family members. In some instances, civilians reported that
armed opposition groups tried to relocate civilians before
launching operations. In most incidents, however, FSA-affiliated
and other armed groups conducted military operations in densely
populated areas, leading to the displacement and civilian
casualties, including children. Armed opposition groups reportedly
used snipers, mortars, rockets and improvised explosive devices in
residential areas.29. Armed opposition groups also engaged in the summary
execution of children. Lack of access, including for security
reasons, has prevented the United Nations from systematic
documentation. Trends are believed to be much higher than the
number of recorded cases. For instance, in 2011 in Damascus
governorate, FSA elements reportedly killed a 16-year-old boy, who
had allegedly been coerced to work with the Government when his
father was detained by Government forces. The United Nations also
received reports of children killed by Jabhat al-Nusra, including,
a 16-year-old boy who was shot dead in April 2013 in Al Hassakeh
governorate. Also in Al Hassakeh governorate, a 14-year-old boy was
reportedly shot dead by elements of Syrian Kurdish armed groups
associated with PYD during a demonstration of another Kurdish
faction.
Unsurprisingly, the first round of peace talks in Switzerland
between the Syrian government and some opposition representatives
did not amount to much. As the war in Syria goes on and
interventionists continue to make the case for increased foreign
involvement in the war it is worth bearing the recent U.N. report
in mind. As awful as the Assad regime is, opposition groups are
also responsible for abuses.
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