Kurdish youth group accused of recruiting 20 underage children: SOHR

SOHR said in the report that the group "continues to kidnap children aged less than eighteen years." 
Kurds demonstrate outside UN offices in northeastern Syria against the recruitment of teenage girls into Kurdish militias (Photo: Delil souleiman/AFP)
Kurds demonstrate outside UN offices in northeastern Syria against the recruitment of teenage girls into Kurdish militias (Photo: Delil souleiman/AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor accused the Syrian Kurdish Revolutionary Youth Movement group on Tuesday of abducting at least 20 children since the beginning of 2022.

According to SOHR's report, that group "continues to kidnap children aged less than eighteen years in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES), blatantly violating all international human rights charters."

Read More: Syrian Kurdish Revolutionary Youth Movement continuing recruitment of underage children: SOHR

The human rights organization Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) revealed in a report published on Jan. 13 that the Revolutionary Youth Movement recruited 17 minors in northeastern Syria and Aleppo's northern countryside in October, November, and December 2021.

STJ said that the Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger (Revolutionary Youth Movement) was "established in 2011 and despite the founders' efforts to promote the group as an independent entity, it has been administratively affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD)."

Read More: Pro-PYD youth group continues to recruit minors: rights group

In cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (AANES) established the Office of Child Protection In Armed Conflicts in August 2020 after multiple claims that it was recruiting minors into its armed ranks.

Read More: UN, SDF sign agreement to prevent enrolment of children

The UN and SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi also signed an action plan in June 2019 in Switzerland to restrict the practice.

However, the PYD-linked youth group is not part of the action plan, which has undermined the SDF's efforts to end child recruitment.