Attachments
Summary
The present report, submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005) and subsequent resolutions on children and armed conflict, is the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic and covers the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 September 2022.
The report documents the effects of conflict on children in the Syrian Arab Republic, highlighting trends and patterns of the six grave violations against children, namely, the recruitment and use of children, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, the abduction of children and denial of humanitarian access. Where available, the report contains information on perpetrators. It also outlines information on the progress made in addressing grave violations against children, including through dialogue with parties.
The report provides a series of recommendations addressed to all parties to the conflict aimed at ending and preventing grave violations against children and strengthening child protection in the Syrian Arab Republic.
I. Introduction
1. The present report, prepared pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005) and subsequent resolutions on children and armed conflict, covers the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 September 2022. It is the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic to be submitted to the Security Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. The report highlights trends and patterns of grave violations committed against children by parties to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic and provides details of the progress made to end and prevent such violations since the previous report (S/2021/398) and the adoption by the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict of its conclusions on children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic (S/AC.51/2019/1). It also contains information on progress and challenges in the engagement with parties to the conflict. Where possible, parties to conflict responsible for grave violations are identified.
2. In annex I to the most recent report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/77/895-S/2023/363), under the list of listed parties that have put in place measures during the reporting period aimed at improving the protection of children, Syrian government forces, including the National Defence Forces (NDF) and pro-government militias, remained listed for recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals. In addition, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and Women’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) remained listed for recruitment and use and the opposition Syrian National Army (SNA), including Ahrar al-Sham and Army of Islam remained listed for killing and maiming, respectively. In addition, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham remained listed for recruitment and use and killing and maiming under the list of listed parties that have not put in place measures during the reporting period to improve the protection of children. Under that same list, the opposition Syrian National Army (SNA), including Ahrar al-Sham and Army of Islam, remained listed for recruitment and use, while Da’esh3 remained listed for recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals and abduction.
3. The information contained in the present report was verified by the United Nations country task force on monitoring and reporting on grave violations against children in the Syrian Arab Republic. The protracted nature of the conflict and access restrictions continued to pose considerable challenges for the monitoring and verification of grave violations against children in the Syrian Arab Republic. The consequences of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and related response measures during the reporting period further exacerbated these challenges. Accordingly, the information contained herein does not represent the full extent of grave violations committed in the Syrian Arab Republic and the actual number of violations during the reporting period is likely to be greater. Where incidents were committed earlier but verified only during the reporting period, that information is qualified as relating to an incident that was verified at a later date.