GENEVA // Attacks on hospitals in Syria’s five-year civil war have killed more than 700 doctors and medical workers, UN investigators revealed on Tuesday.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria also condemned horrific violations by extremists and fears that militants affiliated to Al-Qaeda may have recruited hundreds of children into their ranks.
Commission chief Paulo Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council that widespread, targeted aerial attacks on hospitals and clinics across Syria have resulted in scores of civilian deaths, including much-needed medical workers. “More than 700 doctors and medical personnel have been killed in attacks on hospitals since the beginning of the conflict,” he said.
The attacks have made it extremely difficult and in some areas completely impossible to access health care, said Mr Pinheiro, who was presenting the commission’s latest report to the council.
“As civilian casualties mount, the number of medical facilities and staff decreases, limiting even further access to medical care,” he said.
He also denounced frequent attacks on other infrastructure essential to civilian life, such as markets, schools and bakeries.
“With each attack, terrorised survivors are left more vulnerable,” he said, adding that “schools, hospitals, mosques, water stations ... are all being turned into rubble.”
Since March 2011, more than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria and half the population have been forced from their homes.
War broke out after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against protesters demanding political change in protests inspired by the Arab Spring. It has since developed into a war between multiple factions with the civilian population caught in the crossfire.
The commission was also investigating allegations that Jabhat Al Nusra — Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliate — have recruited hundreds of children under 15 in Idlib in northwestern Syria. Millions more cannot attend school, leaving them vulnerable to being press-ganged into combat. ISIL is also condemned for the continued genocide against the Yazidis of Iraq and Syria, which began with a massacre in 2014. I
“As we speak, Yazidi women and girls are still sexually enslaved, subjected to brutal rapes and beatings. They are bought and sold in markets, passed from fighter to fighter like chattel, their dignity being ripped from them with each passing day,” Mr Pinheiro said on Tuesday. “Boys are taken from their mother’s care and forced into ISIL training camps once they reach the age of seven.”
Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, also appealed for action, saying 3,200 Yazidi women and girls are still being held by ISIL, while around 1,000 boys under the age of 10 are being brainwashed and prepared for battle by the jihadists.
Around 400,000 Yazidis are still living in camps in northern Iraq, too afraid to return to Sinjar to rebuild their communities because some of their Sunni Muslim neighbours had helped ISIL in the persecution. “We need to rebuild trust,” said Ms Dakhil.
Agence France-Presse
