Baladi News
An official in the United Nations has verified that violence and killing against Syrian children rose significantly since the beginning of this year.
This year has been particularly woeful for Syria's children as violations against them rise significantly, according to a UN monitoring body, which has verified more than 1,200 such violations, including the deaths or injury of more than 600 children.
"In the first three months of this year, there was an increase of 25% in recruitment and use of children, and of 348% in killing and maiming, compared with the previous thee months," Virginia Gamba, the UN's special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict said.
The UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) team has been working on verifying violations since 2013, and it verifies six violations, namely the recruitment and use of children by parties in the conflict, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on hospitals and schools, abductions, and denial of humanitarian access, Gamba added.
Most killing and maiming was attributable to the Syrian government and pro-government forces, Gamba said.
She verified 7,000 children have been killed or maimed in Syria's seven-year-war, but says unverified reports puts the number "way beyond 20,000."
Source: CNN