Syrian children used as ‘human shields’ against rebels

BEIRUT – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and international envoy Kofi Annan have called on Syria to allow U.N. monitors to enter a rebellious northwestern town where the United States fears Syrian security forces are planning to massacre civilians.

In a UN report released on Tuesday, Syrian troops were accused of torturing and executing children, and of using children as young as eight as “human shields” during military raids against rebels.

The report said rebel forces were also using children on the front line.
 
The UN Nations branded the Syrian government as one of the worst offenders on its annual “list of shame” of conflict countries where children are killed, tortured and forced to fight.
“Rarely, have I seen such brutality against children as in Syria, where girls and boys are detained, tortured, executed, and used as human shields,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for children in armed conflict, told AFP.

Government forces rounded up dozens of boys aged eight to 13 before an attack on the village of Ayn l’Arouz in Idlib province on March 9, the report said.

The children were “used by soldiers and militia members as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on the village,” it said.

Quoting witnesses, the UN report said Syrian military and intelligence forces, as well as pro-government Shabiha militiamen, surrounded the village for an attack that lasted more than four days.

Among the 11 dead on the first day were three boys aged 15 to 17. Another 34 people, including two boys aged 14 and 16 and a nine-year-old girl, were detained.