Does SDF Recruit Girls? The Story of "Evin" Brings the Issue Back to the Forefront

SadaNews - As the Syrian army advances in areas that were under the control of the "SDF" forces, the issue of recruiting minors through abduction or monetary enticement in SDF areas has returned to the spotlight, a practice that has sparked widespread controversy over the past years.

The Story of Evin

The correspondent of "Syria Now," Maher Younis, met with the minor girl "Evin," who was one of the victims of this forced recruitment.
Her mother says:
"They took a minor girl who is 12 years old, born in 2012. We did not leave any authority that we did not approach, from tribal sheikhs, to the Women's Administration, and Child Rights... an orphan girl, her father has passed away, she has tried several times to set herself on fire out of despair, and they told her: if you hurt yourself, we won't return you."

The mother adds that they took her daughter, "and she was absent for 5 or 6 months before God granted us her return a few days ago."

As for Evin, she narrates how she was kidnapped: "I was going to buy some things for my mother from the grocery when SDF members stopped me and said: come with us. They threatened me and took me. They wrote my name and details, and when they realized my age, they immediately transferred me to Al-Hasakah so that my family wouldn't know anything about me."

Evin adds, "I asked them to take me back to my family, but they refused and said: you must forget your family, and we will teach you how to carry a weapon to fight with the commander. After that, they put me in a training camp with girls my age and younger, and they would entice them by talking about how beautiful the place is, completely prohibiting any mention of family."

Various Recruitment Methods.. From "Media Courses" to Direct Kidnapping

Evin's story highlights the reality for dozens of girls and boys, some of whom are not older than 12, who suddenly leave their schools and homes, disappearing for weeks or months, only to reappear in military uniforms holding weapons in SDF ranks, or news of their deaths reaching their families in battles they did not choose, but were forced into.

Local and international human rights organizations have documented these violations, speaking about the forced recruitment of children without the knowledge or consent of their families, which is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and child protection agreements.

According to the "Syria Justice and Accountability Center," some children are lured to participate in courses in fields such as media and photography inside SDF facilities, only for their families to discover later that they have been sent to military training camps.

In other cases documented by the "Syrian Network for Human Rights," SDF uses material and moral incentives, such as money or new clothes, to deceive children and attract them to military ranks, exploiting their poverty and deprivation of organized education, especially in displacement camps.

The harshest path is direct abduction, where trained and specialized units go to capture children from the streets or neighborhoods during times when parental supervision is lacking, leaving parents suddenly facing the complete disappearance of their children without any ability to follow up or seek accountability.

Displacement Camps.. A Fertile Environment for Targeting Minors

Displacement camps are a highly fragile environment, where entities linked to SDF, including the "Youth Revolutionary Movement," exploit the absence of organized education and weak protection to recruit young boys and girls into training camps, often without the knowledge of their families, who later only receive photos of their children in military uniforms or short reports on their fate.

Human rights reports also document SDF threatening some families to prevent them from approaching UN or human rights organizations, prohibiting them from visiting their children or knowing their places of detention, leaving families in a state of constant anxiety and forced silence.

International Law.. Clear Texts and Ongoing Violations

International law clearly stands against the recruitment of children and their use in combat, constituting a serious violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law. Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols prohibit the recruitment or involvement of anyone under the age of 15 in armed conflict, and this conduct is classified as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Despite the clarity of these texts and the renewed human rights and UN reports, the phenomenon of child recruitment in SDF-controlled areas has not ceased, with the UN documenting its continuation at high rates over recent years.

Paper Commitments.. Documented Violations in Numbers

In 2014, SDF (through its affiliated units) signed a commitment with the "Geneva Call" organization prohibiting the use of children in wars. They returned in 2019 to sign a work plan with the UN, committing to take tangible measures within a specific timeframe aimed at ending and preventing the recruitment and military use of children.

In August 2020, SDF announced the establishment of a "Child Protection Office in Armed Conflicts" within its areas of control, a step presented at the time as an indication of responding to international pressures and improving protection mechanisms.

However, annual UN reports documented the continued recruitment of children in SDF areas at high rates, ranging - according to verified cases - between 130 and 285 cases annually from 2019 to 2023, while the year 2022 alone witnessed a significant exacerbation with 637 documented cases of child recruitment.

This coincided with signs of waning commitment to protection measures, including the closure of one of the child protection offices in late 2022, raising additional doubts about SDF's seriousness in following up on the implementation of the work plan on the ground and not just in documents and statements.

Offices that Don’t Change Reality.. Unanswered Open Questions Remain

Parents of recruited children say that the offices announced to protect children have not significantly changed their reality, and that their repeated complaints have not been met with clear responses or practical steps leading to the return of their children or even revealing their legal and humanitarian conditions.

 

Source: Al Jazeera