Syrian Child protection document

Ministry of Social Affairs has completed a document on protecting children in Syria in coordination with Ministries of Justice, Interior and Education.

The document, approved by the cabinet two days ago, contains details about how to protect children from the recruitment in hostilities, sexual and physical abuse and begging as well as school dropout.

It comes within the framework of efforts being exerted to protect children in accordance with the national legislations and training programs, according to the Minister of Social Affairs Rema Qadri.

In June 2014, The Human Rights Watch Organization (HRW) called on the so-called the ‘Syrian opposition groups’ to stop recruiting children, warning the countries financing these groups that they could be persecuted under the charge of committing war crimes.

In a report issued under the title, “we might live and we might die.. recruiting and using children by the armed groups in Syria”, the organization pointed out that the ‘Syrian opposition groups’ have been using children aged 15 in the battles or sometimes under the “guise of offering education to them”.

Extremist groups recruit children

The New York-based organization affirmed that the extremist groups, such as the so-called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the so-called the Free Army, the al-Nusra Front  have recruited children through free schooling campaigns that include weapons training, and have given them dangerous tasks, including suicide bombing missions.

The HRW report was based on the experiences of 25 children who were involved in the fighting in Syria, some of whom are still fighting.

Children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch Priyanka Motaparthy said that the armed groups should not recruit the poor children whose relatives were killed and their schools and environment were destroyed, adding that the “horrors of the war in Syria have become worse by throwing children into the front lines.”

In 2003, Syria signed up to the Convention on the Right of the Child, which states: “Armed groups should not under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.

Basma Qaddour