Raqqa journalist Mustafa al-Khalil said the persistence of child recruitment stems from “fundamental contradictions within the SDF decision-making structure” and “influential factions…that have no real intentions for the successful integration of Kurds into the new Syrian state.”
In 2019, SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signed an action plan with the UN to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 in military activities. Yet cases of child recruitment have continued, even as the SDF has declared its willingness to join the new Syrian state.
Child recruitment persists despite SDF-Damascus integration agreement
✍️ Afrin Muhammad
The recruitment of children, described as “voluntary,” is often “the result of psychological pressure, ideological influences and exploitation of children’s circumstances—factors that negate the existence of free will,” Kurjo added.
This past March, Naziha Abdalo’s father woke to find her missing from the room his family, displaced from Afrin, shared in a Qamishli school-turned-shelter.
For a week, Ahmad Aref Abdalo called the US number, finding it “always out of service.” The family’s search for Naziha at Revolutionary Youth centers, the Asayish and the Afrin Council also came up empty. “I know them. Even if she was just behind the door, they wouldn’t tell us,” Abdalo said.
“This phenomenon continues, despite its relative decline,” said Abdulrahman Kurjo of Kurdish Spring, an organization that has been documenting child recruitment. Fear or pressure on families may also mean “the true scale of recruitment is greater than has been disclosed,” he added.
Syria Direct
Syria Direct
Syria Direct
Syria Direct
A key player in ongoing child recruitment in northeastern Syria is the Revolutionary Youth Movement, a controversial organization that has been accused for years of drawing children into the military structures associated with the SDF.
Less than an hour later, a WhatsApp voice message arrived from a US number. Naziha said she left willingly to join the SDF, and aspired to become a kadro—a committed member of the PKK.
🧵 The Revolutionary Youth Movement and Syrian Democratic Forces continue to recruit minors in northeastern Syria, despite past commitments and an integration agreement with Damascus.
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