Child Protection Office in northeast Syria returns 54 underage soldiers to their families

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Sunday that the Child Protection Office in the northern Syrian city of Amude has handed 54 minors back to their families after they joined the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Citing activists, SOHR said that the SDF handed over the minors, aged 15 to 17, from different areas in the Hasakah province to their families.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES), in cooperation with the SDF, established the Office of Child Protection In Armed Conflicts in August 2020 after multiple claims of the recruitment of minors into its armed ranks.

The UN and SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi also signed an action plan in June 2020 in Switzerland to restrict the practice.

A United Nations report from May said that the recruitment of children by the SDF in northeast Syria has been significantly reduced since the force signed this plan with the UN two years ago.

Read More: Child recruitment by SDF down significantly since 2019, UN says

However, SOHR on Sunday accused the militant Kurdish Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger (Revolutionary Youth Movement) of continuing to recruit underage children, including one 16-year-old child for nine months.

The group in the past has denied being involved in the recruitment of children.