UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday said that 3,381 children had been killed and 3,348 others maimed in Syria over the past five years.
The second report of the UN Secretary General on children and armed conflict in Syria documented grave violations committed against boys and girls between 16 November 2013 and the end of June 2018.
Guterres said he was “dismayed by the scale, severity and recurrence of grave violations endured by children in the Syrian Arab Republic and by the fact that they have continued to be severely affected by a protracted conflict that is now in its eighth year.”
The report indicated that the Assad regime continued to exhibit a blatant disregard for the life and fundamental rights of children, adding that the United Nations verified 12,537 grave violations against children during the reporting period.
A total of 7,339 child casualties were verified (3,891 children killed and 3,448 maimed), demonstrating a significant and steady increase in the nearly five years covered by the report.
According to the report, the recruitment and use of children was the second most prevalent violation during the reporting period. It said that children also faced abductions (693 cases verified) and sexual violence (98 cases), including forced marriage.
The present report was submitted pursuant to the UN Security Council resolution 1612 (2005) and subsequent resolutions.
The report came just a few days after the US envoy to Syria Janes Jeffrey said that Bahsar al-Assad is a “disgrace to mankind’ and “probably the biggest and most brutal war criminal in the world today.”
In its latest report issued on the occasion of World Children’s Day, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said that at least 28,226 children had been killed in Syria since the Syrian revolution began in March 2011. It noted that the Assad regime was responsible for the overwhelming majority of violations against children. (Source: Syrian Coalitions’ Media Department)
