Children in the Syrian War: Tortured by One Side, Recruited by the Other
Last May, Syrian government forces stormed a primary school in As-Safira, Aleppo and took 55 children hostage, using them as human shields. This incident, as detailed in an annual United Nations report on children released this week, points to widespread atrocities committed against Syrian children by both government and opposition forces like the Free Syria Army (FSA).“In Syria, schools are used as barracks and torture centers,” said Leila Zerrougui, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict in an interview. “Children detained [are] sexually abused, raped, or [threatened that] their sisters will be raped. They are paying a very high price.”
The report mentions a slew of abuses, including the recruitment of child soldiers, sexual violence and rape as a tool of war, the use of heavy weaponry and cluster munitions against civilian populations where children are present, and the targeting of schools and hospitals, which are protected under international law. In Syria, many children have not been to school in more than two years.
