An urgent appeal for the release of a sick child kidnapped by the ‘Revolutionary Youth’ of the Autonomous Administration in Syria
The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) learned from the family of the child, “Aseel Muhammad Haji Hassan,” that in late March she went to school in the city of Raqqa and did not return. A female employee admitted that she had been kidnapped by the Revolutionary Youth of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration.
Aseel, is a 15-year-old minor born on January 5, 2008, who suffers from pathological issues of psychological origin, and was being treated by learning a musical instrument to increase her awareness.
An employee of the Cultural Centre contacted her family to send Aseel to an institute called the “Golden Crescent for Talents” in the city of Raqqa, in which she mentioned that it was a secured centre for girls.
Aseel joined the centre for just seven days, and during this period she was instructed on how to join the Kurdish party, informing her family of the details of the conversations that took place with her.
Aseel left the centre on March 21. A week later went to school and did not return. Through her family’s search for her, the talent centre supervisor admitted that Aseel was taken by a militia referred to as the “revolutionary youth”.
For almost two months since her disappearance and to this day, Aseel’s family has not been able to find out where she nor know of any news about her.
As part of the family’s demand for the return of their daughter, they staged a sit-in in front of the Kurdish Party and the Revolutionary Youth Centre, where they were subjected to threats, beatings, humiliation, the threat of kidnapping her minor brothers and the threat of expelling the entire family from the city of Raqqa.
member of her family was tortured by RY militia
The family recounted to SHRC the great suffering they have been subjected to at the hands of the Revolutionary Youth Militia of the Autonomous Administration and SDF, including the final answer from all the parties to them: “Forget your daughter, now she is the daughter of the party. Many threats were issued to kill the girl or deport her to northern Iraq!”
Aseel’s family do not ask for more than returning their daughter to them so that she may continue her treatment and be cared for by them, which she desperately needs, especially since she was kidnapped against her will. This is legal and legitimate requirement, particularly since she is remains a minor and is sick.
SHRC believes that the Autonomous Administration, SDF and the Revolutionary Youth have continuously and systematically violated the agreement concluded with the United Nations called (Action Plan) signed on July 1, 2019, which stipulates preventing and ending the recruitment of children under the age of 18, which was personally signed by the Commander-in-Chief of SDF Mazloum Abdi and Raidur Khalil, the former official spokesman for the “Kurdish People’s Protection Units” and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
SHRC further condemns the kidnapping of minor children by the Autonomous Administration and its apparatus (the Revolutionary Youth) and the use of violence against the families of the abducted who demand the return of their children.
SHRC demands the safe return of child Aseel Muhammad Haji Hassan to her family immediately and an end to the threats against family, and calls on the countries that support the SDF and Autonomous Administration and its repressive apparatus to pressurise them to abide by international treaties and covenants on child recruitment and human rights in general.
SHRC calls on the international community to not to turn a blind eye to the repressive practices by SDF and the Autonomous Administration, and calls on them to implement international resolutions to resolve the Syrian crisis, particularly Resolution 2254, to reach a political solution to the situation in Syria.