At least 652 children were killed in Syria during 2016, more than in any other year of the civil war, a report by the United Nations children’s organisation has said.
Child deaths increased by 20 per cent from 2015, says the Unicef report and, in one week alone, 223 children were injured and 95 were killed during attacks on the capital, Aleppo in September.
“Children have paid the heaviest price in this six-year war and their suffering hit rock bottom last year in a drastic escalation of violence,” says the report released today (13 March).
There were reports of persistent attacks on schools, hospitals, playgrounds, parks and homes in 2016, with aid workers describing the conflict between the Syrian government and its opponents as showing a “callous disregard for the laws of war”.
The Unicef report said that at least 255 children were killed in or near schools last year; that about 1.7 million children were not in school; that one in three schools in the country has been destroyed or damaged and that some are being occupied by troops.
With limited capacity and a lack of medical supplies, doctors were forced to leave children with low chances of survival to die, says the report. Countless more are dying from preventable diseases that could easily be cured.
The most vulnerable among Syria’s children are the 2.8 million in hard-to reach areas including 280,000 living under siege where the flow of essential supplies and lifesaving humanitarian aid is heavily restricted, continues the report.
“In some cases medical supplies have been removed from convoys, denying treatment to civilians which is a violation of international humanitarian law,” it adds.
A further 2.3 million Syrian children are refugees elsewhere in the Middle East.
Unicef also says the use of child soldiers is on the rise, with at least 851 children being recruited by armed factions last year - more than double the year before.
Those recruited increasingly found themselves on the frontline or, in extreme cases, used as executioners, suicide bombers or prison guards.
"The depth of suffering is unprecedented," said Geert Cappelaere, Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa speaking to the BBC from Homs, Syria.
Yet, ‘amid the horrors and the suffering’ there are stories of hope, says Unicef. Last year, 12,600 school children crossed active conflict lines in order to sit their final school exams.
Last week, Save the Children warned millions of Syrian children could be living in a state of ‘toxic stress’ due to prolonged exposure to the horrors of war. The charity said their study into the mental health of Syria’s children reveals a “terrifying mental health crisis among children trapped in Syria.”
It also found two-thirds of children had either lost a loved one, had their house bombed or shelled, or been injured as a result of the war.
Pope Francis has written to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking him to to end the war in his country, to protect civilians and to ensure humanitarian agencies can deliver emergency aid to the people.
PICTURE: Children in the Azaz refugee camp near the Bab Al-Salama border crossing between Turkey and Syria in Azaz, Syria.
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