syria-un-20120816 95

A/HRC/21/50 95 Annex X [English only] Violation of children’s rights 1. The commission conducted 168 interviews in which violations of children‘s rights were alleged. Of these, 30 interviewees were under 18 years of age. 2. In the commission‘s interviews with children and their care-givers the adverse psychological and social impact of the continued violence was evident. Many of the children interviewed had been injured during the violence and/or saw the death or injury of parents, relatives or friends. Some children displayed signs of high stress, either mirroring that of the (often sole) caregiver or due to events the child had experienced him or herself. Some children recounted that they were ―sad‖, while others explained that they were angry and wanted to ―take revenge‖ for those who killed their family or community members. Many complained of sleeplessness and anxiety, or lack of ability to concentrate, all signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I. Government forces and Shabbiha A. Killing and injuring of children 3. The commission recorded the death of 125 children killed during the reporting period. The majority are male. 4. The commission recorded the killing and injuring of children during the shelling of Atarib (Aleppo) in February; Bab Amr neighbourhood of Homs city between February and May; Al-Qusayr (Homs) between February and July; Sermin (Idlib) on 22 March; Kafar Zeita (Hama) in late March; Taftanaz (Idlib) on 4 April; Al-Houla (Homs) on 25 May; El Haffe (Latakia) between 4 and 12 June; Salma (Latakia) on 11 June; Azaz (Aleppo) in late June; and in Tremseh (Hama) on 12 July. During a visit to a hospital in Turkey, the commission saw, and met with the family of a two year old girl, injured in the June shelling of Azaz. 5. As noted in annex V, when Government ground forces moved into towns and villages, usually following shelling, snipers were often positioned on roofs and other raised positions. There were multiple reports of children being killed and wounded by sniper fire. In Atarib (Aleppo) in February, a 10 year old boy, playing in front of his family home, was reportedly shot dead by a sniper positioned on top of a nearby police building. Another interviewee from Atarib stated that he had seen a child shot in the chest by a sniper in February. Another 14 year old boy was injured in Atarib in the same month when he was shot in the legs by a sniper, while on his way to buy food at a local market. The commission received further reports of children shot by snipers in Bab Amr in February, March and May; Taftanaz on 3 April; Aleppo in late April; Anadan village (Aleppo) in late April; and Al-Haffe on 4–6 June. 6. Children were also killed during attacks on protests — as reportedly occurred in Menaq village (Aleppo) on 15 March — and in attacks on villages believed to be harbouring defectors or members of anti-Government armed groups. One defector asserted that children were also targeted for killing or arrest to pressure their parents to cease their protest activities. He stated that, ―… If someone is an activist we will arrest any member o