Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 2003)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments. The Committee informs the Government that, if it has not supplied replies to the points raised by 1 September 2023, then it may proceed with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal at its next session.

Repetition

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). All forms of slavery or similar practices. Forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. The Committee previously noted that the Syrian Arab Republic had adopted a series of legislative reforms such as Law No. 11/2013 which criminalizes all forms of recruitment and the use of children under the age of 18 years by armed forces and armed groups. It noted, however, that numerous armed groups in the Syrian Arab Republic, including the Free Syrian Army affiliated groups (FSA), the Kurdish People Protection Units (YPG), Ahrar al-Sham, Islamic State in Iraq and Sham/the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) and other armed groups were reportedly recruiting and using children for logistics, handling ammunition, manning checkpoints and as combatants.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that armed terrorist groups recruit children and involve them in violence and exploit them sexually. The Committee notes that, according to the report of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic of 9 June 2016 (A/70/919, paragraphs 50–52), from early 2015, UNICEF verified 46 cases of recruitment (43 boys, one girl, two unknown): 21 were attributed to ISIL, 16 to non-state armed opposition groups, five to armed groups affiliated with the Government, two (including a girl) to YPG, and two to government forces. UNICEF reported that children were increasingly recruited at younger ages (some as young as 7 years old) by non-state armed groups. Children’s participation in combat was widespread and some armed opposition groups forced children to carry out grave human rights abuses, including executions and torture, while government forces allegedly submitted children to forced labour or used them as human shields. The Secretary-General also refers to reports from the OHCHR, according to which ISIL publicly announced, on 11 December 2015, the already known existence of a children’s section among its ranks, the “Cubs of the Caliphate”. The OHCHR also received allegations that ISIL was encouraging children between 10 and 14 years of age to join, and that they were training children in military combat.

The Committee further notes that, according to the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict of 20 April 2016 (2016 report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, A/70/836-S/2016/360, paragraphs 148–163), a total of 362 cases of recruitment and use of children were verified (the Secretary-General indicates that the figures do not reflect the full scale of grave violations committed by all parties to the conflict), and attributed to ISIL (274), the Free Syrian Army and affiliated groups (62), Liwa’ al Tawhid (11), popular committees (five), YPG (four), Ahrar al-Sham (three), the Nusrah Front (two) and the Army of Islam (one). Of the verified cases, 56 per cent involved children under 15 years of age, which represents a significant increase compared with 2014. The Secretary-General further indicates that the massive recruitment of children by ISIL continued, and that centres in rural Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and rural Raqqah existed that provided military training to at least 124 boys between 10 and 15 years of age. Verification of the use of child foreign fighters increased as well, with 18 cases of children as young as 7 years of age. In addition, the recruitment and use of children as young as 9 years of age by the Free Syrian Army was also verified, as well as the recruitment of 11 Syrian refugee children from neighbouring countries by Liwa’ al-Tawhid, and the YPG continued to recruit boys and girls as young as 14 years of age for combat roles. Recruitment and use by pro-government groups was also verified, with five cases of boys being recruited by the Popular Committee of Tallkalah (Homs) to work as guards and conduct patrols. In addition, there were allegations of the use of children by government forces to man checkpoints.

The Committee must once again deeply deplore the use of children in armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, especially as it entails other violations of the rights of the child, such as abductions, murders and sexual violence. It once again recalls that, under Article 3(a) of the Convention, the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour and that, under Article 1 of the Convention, member States must take immediate and effective measures to secure the elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take measures, using all available means, to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and groups. The Committee once again urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and robust prosecutions of all persons who forcibly recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict are carried out, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice, pursuant to Law No. 11 of 2013. It requests the Government to provide information on the number of investigations conducted, prosecutions brought and convictions handed down against such persons.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted that, with approximately 5,000 schools destroyed in the Syrian Arab Republic, the resulting sharp decline in children’s education continued to be a matter of great concern among the population. This report also indicated that more than half of Syrian school-age children, up to 2.4 million, were out of school as a consequence of the occupation, destruction and insecurity of schools.

The Committee notes that, according to the 2016 report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (paragraph 157), the number of schools destroyed, partially damaged, used as shelters for internally displaced persons or rendered otherwise inaccessible has reached 6,500. The report refers to information from the Ministry of Education, according to which 571 students and 419 teachers had been killed in 2015, and from the United Nations that 69 attacks on educational facilities and personnel were verified and attributed to all fronts, which killed and maimed 174 children. The Committee further notes that, according to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons on his mission to the Syrian Arab Republic of 5 April 2016 (A/HRC/32/35/Add.2, paragraphs 50–53), a further 400,000 children were at risk of dropping out of school as a direct result of conflict, violence and displacement. While basic education facilities were in place in the displacement centres visited by the Special Rapporteur, such centres, often using school buildings, offer only limited educational facilities.

According to the same report, UNICEF is working with local partners to reach some 3 million children and has implemented an informal education programme to reduce the number of children out of school. The inter-agency initiative “No Lost Generation” is a self-learning programme aimed at reaching 500,000 children who missed out on years of schooling. In areas hosting high numbers of displaced children, UNICEF is also rehabilitating 600 damaged schools and creating 300 prefabricated classrooms to accommodate 300,000 additional children. The Committee further notes that, according to UNICEF’s 2016 Annual Report on the Syrian Arab Republic, UNICEF’s interventions in education, focusing on quality, access and institutional strengthening, contributed to an increase in school enrolment from 3.24 million children (60 per cent of school-age population) to 3.66 million (68 per cent) between 2014–15 and 2015–16. These efforts also resulted in a decrease in the number of out-of-school children from 2.12 million (40 per cent) in 2014–15 to 1.75 million (32 per cent) in 2015–16.

Nevertheless, the Committee notes that, in his report, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons declares that the challenge of providing even basic education access to many internally displaced children is immense and many thousands of children are likely to remain out of education in the foreseeable future (A/HRC/32/35/Add.2, paragraph 53). The Committee is, therefore, once again bound to express its deep concern at the large number of children who are deprived of education because of the climate of insecurity prevailing in the country.While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts and take effective and time-bound measures to improve the functioning of the educational system in the country and to facilitate access to free basic education for all Syrian children, especially in areas affected by armed conflict, and giving particular attention to the situation of girls. It requests the Government to provide information on concrete measures taken in this regard.

Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, removing them from such work and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. 1. Children affected by armed conflict. The Committee previously noted that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic had become common and that a great majority of the children recruited are trained, armed and used in combat.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the competent authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic seek to care for children recruited in armed conflict and to help them return to ordinary life. However, the Committee notes with deep concern that the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic has not changed and that not only are there no reports of children having been withdrawn from armed forces and groups in the 2016 report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict but that, according to this report, children continue to be recruited and used in armed conflict.The Committee, therefore, strongly urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to prevent the engagement of children in armed conflict and to rehabilitate and integrate former child combatants. It once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the number of children rehabilitated and socially integrated.

2. Sexual slavery. The Committee previously noted that ISIS abducted hundreds of Yazidi women and girls, most of whom were sold as “war booty” or given as “concubines” to ISIS fighters, and that dozens of girls and women were transported to various locations in the Syrian Arab Republic, including Al Raqqah, Al Hasakah and Dayr az Zawr, where they were kept in sexual slavery.

The Committee notes with regret the absence of information in the Government’s report on this issue. It notes that, according to the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic of 15 June 2016 entitled “They came to destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis” (A/HRC/32/CRP.2), ISIS has sought to destroy the Yazidis through such egregious human rights violations as killings, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and mental harm. The report indicates that over 3,200 women and children are still held by ISIS. Most are in the Syrian Arab Republic where Yazidi girls continue to be sexually enslaved and Yazidi boys indoctrinated, trained and used in hostilities. The report reveals that captured Yazidi women and girls over the age of 9 years are deemed the property of ISIS and are sold in slave markets or, more recently through online auctions, to ISIS fighters. While held by ISIS fighters, these Yazidi women and girls are subjected to brutal sexual violence and regularly forced to work in their houses, in many instances forced to work as domestic servants of the fighter and his family. The Committee deeply deplores the fact that Yazidi children continue to be victims of sexual slavery and forced labour.While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee strongly urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove Yazidi children under 18 years of age who are victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It once again requests the Government to provide information on specific measures taken in this regard, and the number of children removed from sexual exploitation and rehabilitated.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Internally displaced children. The Committee previously noted that, by early 2013, there were 3 million children displaced and in need of assistance inside the Syrian Arab Republic.

The Committee notes that, according to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons on his mission to the Syrian Arab Republic of 5 April 2016 (A/HRC/32/35/Add.2, paragraph 67), the extent of the conflict and displacement has had a massive impact on children, many of whom have experienced violence first-hand and/or witnessed extreme violence, including the killing of family members and/or separation from family members. The Special Rapporteur indicates that child protection concerns and issues, including child labour resulting from parents’ loss of livelihood, trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence and early and forced marriage, continue to be reported. Children have also been recruited and used by different parties to the conflict, both in combat and support roles.Observing with concern that internally displaced children are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to protect these children from the worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.

The Committee expects that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.