The Child Protection Office in Armed Conflicts of the Autonomous Administration in northern and eastern Syria issued a written statement regarding its efforts to deal with complaints received regarding child recruitment.
The statement initially criticized the tendentious circulation of the issue of child recruitment in the Autonomous Administration areas by some media outlets. Recently, some pages and media outlets have discussed the issue of child recruitment in the Autonomous Administration area in northern and eastern Syria in an objective and professional manner; however, some suspicious media outlets and pages presenting the story of a girl who was in the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces way went to a different direction from the issue of child recruitment, which we announced over and over again that we oppose this phenomenon even if it is within the ranks of our forces, as those media outlets adopted a view known to attack the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Democratic Forces.”
The statement praised the cooperation of the Syrian Democratic Forces, regarding the issue of child recruitment in its ranks, as the articles the SDF signed stipulate the establishment of preventive and disciplinary measures regarding the recruitment and protection of children.
The statement noted that, to date, the office has received nearly 86 complaints from various areas of the Autonomous Administration, and a large group of them have been dismissed, and many of these complaints have been dealt with legally.
The statement also stated, “The office is also working on developing a jurisdiction list, an internal system, and a strategy to protect children in northern and eastern Syria, with the aim of reaching a child protection law in the Autonomous Administration areas, especially in both cases of physical and sexual exploitation of children, as is the case in the case of child labor and dropout of schools, healthcare and education.
The Child Protection Office is sincere in its efforts, and we inform you that the sincerity in efforts came as a result of full cooperation and great focus from the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian Democratic Forces to make the work successful, in order to reach a safe environment for children, and this requires some time, especially that the office was newly established, and it takes time to develop integrated plans to protect children in the Autonomous Administration areas. “
The Office of Child Protection in Armed Conflicts confirmed, in the conclusion of its statement, that the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria represented by the Child Protection Office is continuing its work; it respects international charters and agreements on protecting and caring for children in a serious manner, and away from media slogans, and we affirm that we are moving in this direction to build a society free from violence and extremism, and we will spare no effort to achieve safety and security for all children of northern and eastern Syria.”