The terrorist organization PKK/YPG, which is supported by the United States of America (USA), continues to recruit the children it kidnaps, in violation of numerous international conventions and regulations, and many of these children die in an attempt to escape, commit suicide or in conflict zones, Anadolu reports.
The US-backed PKK/YPG continues to recruit children under the age of 18, despite the practice being against international law, particularly the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Although a document was signed between the UN and PKK/YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Sahin, codenamed “Mazlum Abdi”, in June 2019 on “the release of children (who operate within the terrorist organization) and their non-participation in armed conflicts”, that terrorist the organization still continues such practice.
According to information that the . journalist received from security sources, the average age of children in a terrorist organization is 15 years old.
– Reduction in the number of volunteers –
Due to the decrease in the number of volunteers in the last few years, the terrorist organization is trying to fill the gap by involving more children.
Younger children are recruited into terrorist organizations through deception, coercion and kidnapping, and terrorists also promise wages to children and their families facing economic hardship in Iraq and Syria.
The US-backed PKK/YPG recruits children from families who do not or cannot pay the so-called “tax obligation” and tries to ensure that at least one person from each family joins the terrorist organization as a form of “compulsory military service”.
The group “Revolutionary Youth”, which is managed by the personnel of the terrorist organization in Syria, also tries to ensure the participation of children in the ranks of the terrorist organization by forceful detention or kidnapping.
– Sexual abuse –
Terrorists also sexually abuse girls under the age of 18. So far, many girls have lost their lives as a result of trying to escape from the camps, suicide or illness.
The training that the terrorist organization provides to children lasts about nine months, and in order to avoid problems based on international law, the children undergoing training are registered under different names and identity information.
– Training centers –
Some of the children kidnapped by the terrorist organization were taken to Iraq/Qandil and Sinjar regions.
Also, some of the training centers in Syria are: Youth Center (Tel Rifat), Gelhat Academy (An-Nasiriyah), Logistics Headquarters (Qom Aftar), Ideological Education Center for Children (Aynularab), Children’s Battalion (Tel Temir/Hasakah Province ), Tel Mozan Education Center (Amude/Hasake), Mandatory Recruitment Center (Kahtaniye/Hasake), Children’s Ideological Education Center (Malikiye/Hasake), Ayn Youth Battalion (Ayn al-Hadra) and Sabotage Academy (Gir Kendal/Haseke ).
– The reaction of the local population –
The violent recruitment of children by the PKK/YPG has recently caused serious reactions among people in the region in Syria, and citizens have even organized protests. The terrorist organization suppressed these reactions with violence.
Some families whose children were recruited appealed to international organizations and asked them to contact the terrorist organization in order to get their children back.
Some international organizations contacted the PKK/YPG, which uses the name SDG in Syria, and demanded that the children be returned to their families.
– International reports –
The issue of child recruitment by terrorist organizations has been the subject of many international reports.
The US government’s 2016 “Trafficking in Persons Report” noted that “the PKK’s Syrian branch, the PYD/YPG, continues to recruit and use boys and girls, including children under the age of 15, as members of the organization and abduct them to training camps.”
A 2014 report by the US Department of Human Rights’ State Office for Democracy and Human Rights, titled “Child Soldiers,” stated that “the PKK regularly recruits children and it is unknown how many child soldiers are still within the PKK.”
In a report titled “Children and Armed Conflict” submitted by the UN Secretary General to the Security Council in June 2015, it was stated that “girls and boys under the age of 15 were found to have been recruited by the YPG/YPJ and used in war zones.”
In the report “Children and Armed Conflict”, published by the UN in July 2023, there are data on “children recruited, killed or wounded” in conflict zones in 2022.
“In the territory of Iraq and Syria, in 2022, the organization recruited 696 children who were used at checkpoints and conflicts, and we express our concern about the increase in cases of recruitment and use of children by the PKK/YPG/SDG”.
– UNICEF initiatives –
In a June 2014 announcement by the UN organization for the protection of children, UNICEF, it is stated that “UNICEF is deeply concerned by the news that children are in the ranks of the PKK, which the international community considers a terrorist organization. The use of children by armed forces and terrorist groups is contrary to international law.”
It is further stated that during the meeting of UNICEF representatives for Syria with members of the organization in 2022, they received many complaints from families living in regions controlled by the terrorist organization, that the same organization is detaining their children and sending them to conflict zones under the pretext of “so-called recruitment “.
The announcement states that there is a protocol between UNICEF and the PKK/YPG on the “exemption of minor children from recruitment”, and it is announced that international criminal proceedings will be resorted to if the aforementioned protocol continues to be violated.
In a June 2014 report, the international organization “Human Rights Watch” also stated that “the YPG recruited children.”
– PKK on the list of terrorist groups –
The PKK is a separatist and terrorist organization that is on the list of terrorist groups in Turkey, the European Union and the United States of America. During the decades-long terrorist campaign against Turkey, PKK terrorists killed at least 40,000 people. The YPG is a branch of the PKK terrorist organization operating in Syria.
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