Syrian Coalition: Assad Regime’s Targeting of Schools is an Unforgivable Crime

Nora al-Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, said that “the weak international response towards the humanitarian crisis suffered by the Syrian children, and the unprecedented silence towards the Assad regime’s targeting of schools, which many of them were transformed into military barracks and detention centers, are unforgivable crimes against humanity and flagrant violations of the UN conventions on the rights of the child.” Al Ameer’s statement coincides with the first day of school in Syria. “On behalf of the 3,000,000 children who are deprived from education, on behalf of the  2,400 schools and kindergartens demolished by the Assad regime, on behalf of hundreds of schools and kindergartens which were turned by Assad to detention and torture centers, and on behalf of children’s parks which Assad turned into military barracks, on behalf of 17,000 children who were killed by Assad’s forces, on behalf of the humanity’s conscience, on behalf of Hamza al-Khatib, the boy who was forbidden by Assad’s forces to pronounce his father’s name, we call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and stop the killing machine that has been harvesting the lives of Syrian children for more than three years.” Al Ameer concluded her remarks calling on the world to rescue the education process, which Assad has been trying to disrupt in order to destroy the societal awareness of the Syrians. Unlike the rest of children in the world, the Syrian children’s attention is no longer drawn to toys or candies, but what they need is international justice and to be given the right to live and learn. (Source: Syrian Coalition)