2016, The Worst Year For Syrian Children: UNICEF

MEP: A new report from the United Nations child relief agency (Unicef) has said that 2016 saw the highest recorded levels of grave violations against Syria’s children since the outbreak of war in 2011.

Hundreds of Syrian children being killed, maimed and forced into fighting — including acting as suicide bombers and executioners — in the country’s civil war, according to UNICEF.

At least 652 children were killed in the last year, making 2016 the worst year for Syria’s children since verification of child casualties began in 2014.

Of that number, 255 children were killed in or near a school in 2016, UNICEF said.

The number of child fatalities in 2016 was at least 20 percent higher than in 2015. At least 647 children were also reported injured.

Unicef believes more than 850 children were recruited to fight in 2016.

“The depth of suffering is unprecedented,” said Geert Cappelaere, Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa speaking from Homs, Syria.

“Millions of children in Syria come under attack on a daily basis, their lives turned upside down.”

The situation for those not caught up in the front lines is still dire: in Syria at least 1.7 million children are out of school, where one in three schools are unusable. There are at least 2.3 million refugee Syrian children elsewhere in the Middle East, with around two thirds of that number forced to work at least part time to support their families.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera published the story of a child being injured in an explosion.

On a winter morning in January, Majed, 13, and his friend Omar, 11, were heading to a public park near their homes in eastern Aleppo to play and ride their bikes.

It was only two weeks since the December ceasefire began, and the lull in fighting allowed the two friends and many children in the neighbourhood to venture outside.

On their way to the park, they spotted a “strange” metal object buried in the sand.

“It looked like a soda can. I stepped on it, and it exploded,” Majed recalled.

“I was thrown in the air, but I never lost consciousness,” he said. “I was worried about Omar, I didn’t know how to help.”

People rushed to the scene to find Majed and Omar severely wounded.

Shrapnel tore through Majed’s face and body, causing some of his intestines to be removed. But he was lucky that his foot was not amputated.

“I was so cold and in pain,” he said.

Majed’s friend Omar did not make it to the hospital. He died inside the taxi five minutes after two men rescued them.