Almost 30,000 Children Killed In Syria Since 2011: Report

At least 29,661 children have been killed in Syria since March 2011, 181 tortured to death and 5,036 still detained or forcibly disappeared, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has revealed.

Back in 2011 the country descended into a full-blown civil war after some protests during the so-called Arab Spring. The Syrian regime acted relentlessly and brutally when arresting indiscriminately, targeting, shooting and killing of unarmed protesters.

22,930 [were] at the hands of the Syrian regime forces, 2,032 by Russian forces, 958 by ISIS, and 71 others by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which makes Damascus responsible for 78% of extrajudicial killings of children in Syria, with 2013 reportedly being the worst year.

Out of the 181 children tortured to death in the country, 174 of those deaths were in the extensive network of detention centers run by the Syrian regime. Overall, 14,400 people have been tortured to death throughout the conflict. As for those 5,036 children still detained or disappeared, 3,649 are in the hands of the regime, 667 are in the hands of the Kurdish militia the Syrian Democratic Forces, 42 are in the hands of the militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and 359 are controlled by other armed opposition groups, the SNHR’s document has showed.

The report has also confirmed that the Syrian regime forces have committed several types of sexual violence against children and at least 539 incidents of sexual violence against children have been reported.

The bombardment by Syrian forces has caused the total or partial destruction of at least 1,197 schools and 29 kindergartens, while also using some schools as military bases. The education system is continuing to deteriorate and child labor is considered one of the most widespread phenomena in all regions.

In this tenth annual report on violations against children in Syria, it has been revealed that most of all killings, torture, and disappearances of children in the country have been committed by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Additionally, the deliberate and calculated targeting of civilians and residential neighborhoods remains a constant Syrian regime policy.

Although the Syria’s leadership has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993 and the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all parties in the conflict have violated the rights of the child. Nevertheless, the Syrian regime has far exceeded all other parties in terms of the number of crimes perpetrated in a systematic manner, the SNHR has stated.

Executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Fadel Abdul Ghany, has said that “hundreds of thousands of children have suffered and are still enduring the most intolerable humanitarian conditions, as they have done for years. This situation and these atrocious conditions can only continue because the reason for this continuing conflict has not changed, indicating that new generations of Syrian children are facing a similar dark fate.”