January 17, 2020

Anna Murray 

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights abuses since the outbreak of the 2011 conflict, released its official report on January 16. The 25-page report was entitled “They have erased the dreams of my children”.

From September 2011 to October 2019 the three-member Commission conducted the investigation in more than 5,000 interviews with Syrian children as well as eyewitnesses, defectors, healthcare and medical professionals, lawyers, members of armed groups, survivors, their relatives, and other affected community members.

The Commission resented that children’s rights in the Syrian Arab Republic have been destroyed. The conflict had a devastating impact on children’s access to education. The study indicated more than 2.1 million children in the absence of attending any regular classes. Children have been vulnerable to unabated violations of their rights, including being displaced, forced to fight, crippled, killed, or subjected to sexual assault and slavery.

The Commission called on the Syrian Government to offer children access to education and urged all sides to grant children special protection during wartime and recommended stopping child recruitment during military planning.

Photo:Webshot.