In Syria, the recruitment and use of child soldiers is a scourge. Documenting this war crime on the ground is difficult, the subject is taboo and local activists working on it are under threat. Since 2021, a researcher and I have been investigating.
In north-east Syria, some child soldiers are trickling back to their families thanks to "a return plan", following an agreement reached in June 2019 between the UN and the FDS, the ground allies of the American-led international coalition.
However, even before this military alliance, the UN was pointing out this war crime committed by factions in north-eastern Syria in its reports. The UN has also referred to cases of child soldiers during the period of the FDS/coalition alliance, and after the war against Daech.
For example, in 2019, 283 children are reported to have been recruited into the ranks of the YPG under the aegis of the SDF. 2019 is the year of the last battle against Daech in Baghouz led by the coalition and the SDF, and the year of the Turkish offensive source of peace.
Despite this agreement, children who have been forcibly recruited are still missing, and others are still disappearing. We went to meet child soldiers who have returned to their families, of mothers who are still desperately searching for their kidnapped children, and we were able to gather the testimonies of activists working for children's rights - a right that is flouted in a country where they are the first victims of war.
It is difficult to meet former child soldiers or the families of kidnapped children. They're all afraid, it's an omerta. As time went by, we spent some time with these minors/families. A rare occurrence. Children rarely come back.
A young girl told her traumatic experiences, her abduction on her way to school, her experiences locked up in an unknown building with other young people, including other underage girls kidnapped with their mothers still waiting to find them.
We were able to see for ourselves the suffering of these mothers with no news. Spending time on the ground revealed that the plan signed with the UN was not being respected. These exhausted mothers demonstrated in front of a UN building in Qamishli, demanding the return of their daughters.
We were also able to gain the trust of a former child soldier. He was recruited by the SDF Special Forces at the age of 15, in 2019 (during the Battle of Baghouz). He fought during the Turkish offensive in 2019. He recounts his short training in heavy weapons.
He asked to join at the age of 15, "lying" about his date of birth. He talks about his war and what it was like to fight as a teenager. He was scared. He saw friends die. But after his time at the front, there was no psychological support.
Recruitment is a multi-faceted issue, and each story is different. Sometimes, as a human rights lawyer trying to work for children's rights in north-east Syria explains, it is also the family that sends the minor to the army, for financial reasons.
In 2022, the UN attributed more than a third of the cases, or 637 recruitments, to the FDS and associated groups in north-eastern Syria.
https://apnews.com/article/syria-child-recruitment-d4d48148e0b04e5649aa43f540988ace
The number of children recruited by armed groups across Syria has risen steadily over the past three years, from 813 in 2020 to 1,296 in 2021 and 1,696 in 2022, according to the UN.
The report also indicates 611 cases of recruitment by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, and 383 by Hayat Tahrir al Sham, linked to al-Qaeda. The report cites 25 cases of child recruitment by Syrian government forces and pro-government militias.
Unfortunately, this subject, and the direct (and filmed) testimonies of the victims and families of victims of this war crime in north-east Syria, has been offered for several years to various French media, without any "return".