Child Protection Office of Syria’s AANES works to end recruitment of minors
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Murhaf al-Abdullah, the head of the Child Protection Office in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), said on Wednesday that they have come a long way in ending the recruitment of minor children.
“We recently opened the issue of child labor in North and East Syria, and we have plans and programs to provide the necessary support for these cases,” al-Abdullah stated that to North Press.
He did not disclose the plans to be worked on, nor the support mechanism and method.
He pointed out that the child protection issue in North and East Syria deals with many aspects, including the issue of school dropout, recruitment, and the physical and sexual exploitation of children.
The office is close to ending the issue of children recruited into the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to him.
He did not disclose the number of minor children who were among the ranks of the SDF, nor the number of cases that were returned to their families.
“The SDF is committed to international conventions and international child protection laws,” he declared.
He stated that there are many cases of minors who have applied to join the ranks of the SDF recently, but their requests were rejected and they were referred to the Child Protection Office to study their situation and find out the reasons and motives in order to provide them with support.
The AANES Executive Council established the Child Protection Office late in August. This step came after an agreement signed by the SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi with the United Nations to prevent the recruitment of children and their use as combatants in armed conflict.