Autonomous Administration: we will coordinate with UNICEF to protect children in northeast Syria

RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Murhaf Abdullah, head of the Child Protection Office in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), revealed on Tuesday plans and programs that the office is working on in coordination with international organizations concerned with protecting children’s rights in the world.

“We are currently working on developing a strategy to protect children in North and East Syria, after several meetings with the UNICEF coordinator in northeast Syria and the UNICEF coordinator in the Middle East and North Africa,” Abdullah told North Press.

He added that the most prominent issue that was discussed between the office and international organizations concerned with children’s rights was child labor in northeast Syria.

“We discussed equipping vocational training centers to accommodate children who work in occupations that are not appropriate for their age, so that they are not subjected to extortion and abuse by employers,” Abdullah added.

The Child Protection Office in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has nine branch offices located in city centers in northeast Syria, and began their work on the twentieth of October.

The AANES Executive Council established the Child Protection Office late in August. This step came after an agreement signed by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi with the United Nations to prevent the recruitment of children and their use as combatants in armed conflict.

“At the present, the staff of the Child Protection Office are having specialized academic courses dealing with child rights and childcare, according to internationally recognized standards,” Abdullah said.

The Child Protection Office follows up on complaints formally submitted to it regarding child recruitment.

The office has returned three children who had recently joined SDF to their families, according to the director of the Child Protection Office.

Reporting by Mustafa Khalil