Executive Summary
Since the beginning of the popular protests in Syria, children have been victims of various kinds of crimes. We documented the names and pictures of 17268 children who were killed by the Syrian regime including 518 children who were killed by snipers in addition to the arrest of no less than 9500. Additionally, the Syrian regime tortured to death 95 children at least. Also, many sexual violations against children have been documented. Furthermore, there are more than 280,000 wounded children, 4.7 million IDP children, and 2.9 million children refugees among them were more than 1.3 million children who were deprived of education. 3942 school were damaged in Syria which resulted in more than 2 million out-of-school children inside Syria. Moreover, the Syrian regime forcibly recruited hundreds of children in direct and indirect military operations. During the conflict, 18273 children have been orphaned as their fathers were killed while 4573 children suffered the loss of their mothers who were killed.
On the other hand, ISIS killed no less than 137 children and arrested 455 others at least in addition to recruiting hundreds of children while the armed opposition groups killed 304 children, arrested approximately 1000 children, and used some children in military activities.
85,000 children have been born in refugee camps many of them don’t have any identification papers as the phenomenon of denial of citizenship is alarmingly growing.
All of this left a horrible psychological impact on the children of Syria because of the ceaseless traumas caused by the loss of families and friends, displacement, deprivation of education, and watching all of this killing, executions, and stoning.
Baraa Al-Agha, manager of the reports department at SNHR, says: “No one can even start to imagine what will become of the Syrian children in the future. We are losing an entire generation. The process of rehabilitating the children of Syria must commence now especially orphans and disabled children. Also, they must be protected from recruitment and early labor. The Syrian community will not be able to bear the responsibility alone.”
Violations Perpetrated by the Syrian Government
A. Extrajudicial killings
SNHR has documented the names, pictures, videos, and place and date of death of no less than 17268 children victims who were killed by government forces since March 2011. Those children were killed by various kinds of weapons including indiscriminate missile shelling, artillery, and cluster munitions, poison gases, barrel bombs, and sharp weapons in many massacres of a sectarian-cleansing nature in Homs, Banyas, Jadedat Al-Fadel in Damascus countryside, Al-Qalamoun in Damascus countryside, Hama northern countryside, and Aleppo countryside.
Out of the 17268 children who were killed by the Syrian regime, 518 were killed by snipers where the snipers, who done the killing, was fully aware that he is targeting a child as it was documented in the report “Hunting Humans” that was published by SNHR. Furthermore, 95 children were tortured death inside the Syrian regime’s detention centers.