PKK continued to recruit children: US State Department report
WASHINGTON (AA) – The PKK organization continued to forcibly recruit children to use them in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, according to a report by US State Department on Tuesday.
The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report stated that children remain vulnerable to forcible recruitment and use by multiple armed groups operating in Iraq, including ISIS, PKK, and Iran backed-militias.
In addition, PKK’s militia groups in Sinjar employed Ezidi minors and teenage recruits in paramilitary roles in the region last year, according to the report.
Turning to Syria, the annual report noted the activity of the YPG, saying the recruitment and use of children in combat in Syria remains common.
“The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) in northwest Syria continue to recruit, train, and use boys and girls as young as 12 years old,” said the report.
It also showed that since 2017, international observers reported that YPG and YPJ recruited — sometimes by force — children from displacement camps in northeast Syria.
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