BALADI NEWS
On UN’s annual Universal Children’s Day, The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) issued a report which reveals that at least 29,017 children have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the popular uprising for democracy.
The report outlines the record of violations against children by the main parties to the conflict in Syria between March 2011 and November 20, 2019, providing 11 accounts that SNHR collected through speaking directly with eyewitnesses, which are not cited from any open sources.
The report documents the deaths of 22,753 children by Syrian Regime forces between March 2011 and November 20, 2019, including 186 who suffocated to death as a result of chemical attacks. The report also documents that at least 404 children were killed in attacks in which the Syrian regime used cluster munitions or as a result of explosions of old cluster munition remnants, and 305 children died due to food and medicine shortages in many areas that have been under siege since March 2011. The report also documents at least 1,141 incidents of attacks on schools by Syrian Regime forces during the same period.
As the report states, at least 3,618 children are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the Syrian regime detention centers between March 2011 and November 20, 2019. In addition, child conscription by regime forces since the beginning of 2013 has resulted in the deaths of at least 37 children on the battlefield.
The report notes that Russian forces have killed 1,928 children since the start of Russia’s military intervention in Syria, including 67 children who were killed as a result of 236 cluster munitions attacks. The report also notes that at least 201 incidents of attacks on schools were carried out by Russian forces since the start of its military intervention in Syria in September 2015, in addition to displacing tens of thousands of children as a result of its military operations.
The report reveals that 214 children had been killed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since January 2014, and that 722 children are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the SDF detention centers.
Of the 86 cases of child conscription carried out by the SDF since 2014, the report notes that approximately 23 of these were killed on the battlefield.
The report notes that 956 children have been killed by ISIS since its establishment in April 2013 as a result of indiscriminate shelling, clashes, bombings, executions, and mine-planting before withdrawing from areas under its control. ISIS still has at least 326 children who are still detained or forcibly disappeared.
The report states that at least 64 children have been killed since the establishment of Jabhat al Nussra (now known asHayyat Tahrir al-Sham - HTS) in January 2012 until November 20, 2019; while at least 29 children are still detained or forcibly disappeared by HTS.
The report adds that 924 children were killed as a result of attacks by US-led coalition since the start of their intervention in Syria on September 23, 2014.
The report also documents the deaths of 984 children by factions of the Armed Opposition, most of whom were killed as a result of indiscriminate shelling carried out by opposition forces on areas under the control of Syrian Regime forces.
The report also states that 348 children are still detained or forcibly disappeared in detention centers controlled by factions of the Armed Opposition.
The report further documents the deaths of at least 1,194 children since March 2011, as well as 60 incidents of attack on schools, at the hands of other parties.
Finally, the report calls on the international community to establish mechanisms to end the bombing of schools and kindergartens, and to fulfill their obligations towards children's rights.