MEMO | August 8, 2020
The Pentagon confirmed in a report on the war in Syria and Iraq that the militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continues to recruit children through forcible detention.
On Thursday, the Lead Inspector General issued a report on Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), launched by a US-led international coalition against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, indicating that the SDF militia continues to arrest and recruit children from refugee camps in the areas it controls in north-eastern Syria.
The report pointed out that the SDF militia did not fulfil its pledges to international organisations to not recruit children, stressing that youngsters are still being forcibly recruited.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) published in its report issued on 16 January, new evidence about the exploitation and recruitment of children by SDF militia.
On 29 June, 2019, Virginia Gamba, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, signed an action plan with SDF leader Ferhat Abdi Shahin, known as Mazloum Abdi, to release child fighters in the militia ranks.