Grave Violations

Recruitment and use
0
children (1,262 boys, 39 girls)
Killing and maiming
0
(448 killed – 513 maimed; 618 boys – 199 girls – 144 sex unknown)
Sexual violence
0
children (4 girls, 0 boys)
0
(28 schools, 18 hospitals)
0
children (7 girls, 2 boys)
0
verified incidents

*The information below is based on the Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/76/871-S/2022/493) issued on 11 July 2022. Violations that occurred in previous years but were verified in 2021 have been included in the totals above.

Developments & Concerns

Progress

  • Dialogue between the Government and the United Nations on measures to end and prevent grave violations against children, the reactivation of the interministerial committee, and the organization of a joint workshop on child protection on 14 March 2022.
  • Issuance of law No. 21/2021 on the rights and protections afforded to children and the commitment reaffirmed by the Government to support the humanitarian response by the United Nations and its partners.
  • Ongoing development of a draft comprehensive action plan.
  • Continuing progress in the implementation of the 2019 action plan by SDF, resulting in the disengagement of a further 182 children from their ranks and the screening out of 568 boys through age assessment procedures.
  • Adoption by SDF of new guidelines for the release and exclusion of children from their ranks, and procedures for protecting children detained for alleged association with Da’esh.
  • Disciplinary measures against SDF personnel who violate the commitments under the action plan are a positive development.
  • Access provided by SDF for United Nations partners to visit two detention facilities in Aleppo Governorate.

Challenges

  • Increased number of verified cases of recruitment and use by SDF.
  • Deprivation of liberty of children for their alleged association with parties to conflict.
  • Concerning humanitarian situation of women and children in the Hawl and Rawj camps and in places of detention in the north-east.
  • Persistently high number of violations against children committed by all parties to the conflict, particularly the significant increase in child recruitment and use, and by the continued high number of cases of killing and maiming and of attacks on schools and hospitals, and by widespread impunity.

Recommendations

To the Government:

  • To increase its engagement with the United Nations, to strengthen the protection of children, including through the signature of concrete time-bound commitments.
  • To facilitate the voluntary repatriation of women and children, including those with suspected family ties to Da’esh, in line with international law and in full respect for the principle of non-refoulement and the best interest of the child, and in line with the Global Framework on United Nations Support to Member States on Individuals Returned from the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, adopted in 2020.

To All Parties

  • To encourage the Syrian Arab Republic to become a party to international legal instruments on mines and explosive remnants of war.