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Syria: Deadly School Attack Was Unlawful

Idlib Attacks Reaffirm Need for Civilian Protection

(Beirut) – A November 24, 2018 attack by Syrian government forces near an elementary school that killed six children, a teacher, and a student’s mother, appears to have been unlawful and indiscriminate. All parties to the conflict,…
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News

Syria’s Kids Are Still Being Killed at School

Amid Ongoing Bombings, More Protection Needed for Education

In areas of Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Syria’s capital Damascus held by anti-government armed groups, schools have closed for fear that Syrian and Russian warplanes will bomb them. Instead, local residents have opened informal schools…
Children walk through the rubble of the Tamayuz (“Excellence”) kindergarten in the town of Hamouriyeh after it was hit by a Syrian-Russian airstrike on November 8, 2017. © 2017 Private
News

Middle East Conflicts Spur Disastrous New Trends for Region

(Beirut) – Lawless armed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) morphed into disastrous trends for the region in 2017, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its 2018 World Report. “Failed leadership, failed…
Smoke billows behind a building in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 3, 2017, during clashes between Houthi rebels and supporters of Yemeni ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. © 2017 Getty Images
News

Syria: Children Under Attack in Damascus Enclave

UN Security Council Should Act on Eastern Ghouta Situation

(New York) – Attacks by Syrian-Russian forces in an area near the Damascus in late October and early November 2017 killed eight children and destroyed or damaged four schools, Human Rights Watch said today. The attacks on Eastern Ghouta…
Children walk through the rubble of the Tamayuz (“Excellence”) kindergarten in the town of Hamouriyeh after it was hit by a Syrian-Russian airstrike on November 8, 2017. © 2017 Private
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Syria/Russia: Airstrikes, Siege Killing Civilians

Syrian government and Russian forces have escalated their airstrikes on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb approximately 15 kilometers from the center of Syria’s capital, Damascus, killing dozens of civilians in apparently unlawful attacks. Syrian forces have…
News

Iraq/KRG: 1,400 Women, Children From ISIS Areas Detained

Investigate Killings, Abductions of Foreign Men

  (Beirut) – Iraqi authorities are holding more than 1,400 foreign women and their children who surrendered with ISIS fighters in late August 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The detentions appear to have no legal…
Iraqi Ministry of Transportation buses taking internally displaced families to Hammam al-Alil in May 2017. In late August, Iraqi authorities bused 1,400 foreign women and children to the site. © 2017 Belkis Wille/Human Rights Watch
News

Syria: Airstrike on School Kills Civilians

10 Dead, Including Displaced Family

(Beirut) – Syrian-Russian airstrikes and artillery attacks on June 14, 2017, in a town in the southern Daraa governorate killed 10 civilians in and near a school, Human Rights Watch said today. Residents said they were not aware of any military targets in…
The impact crater in the Martyr Kiwan school courtyard from a Syrian-Russian airstrike on June 14, 2017. Seven of the eight casualties, including a child, were from a displaced family and had been sheltering in the school.
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HRW: The Investigators

Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization made up of roughly 400 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse…
News

Russia/Syria: Satellite, Video Imagery Confirm School Attack

Evidence Contradicts Russian Denial

(Beirut) – Analysis of satellite imagery provides additional verification that damage to a school complex in the village of Haas in Idlib on October 26, 2016, was caused by airstrikes carried out by the joint Russian-Syrian military operation in Syria,…
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Syria/Russia: School Attack a Possible War Crime

39th Reported Attack on Schools in Syria This Year

(New York) – Airstrikes by the joint Russian-Syrian military operation that killed dozens of civilians, mostly schoolchildren, in the northern, opposition-controlled Syrian governorate of Idlib on October 26, 2016, could constitute a war crime, Human…
A man carries what appears to be a remnant of the parachute system of one of the bombs used in the attack on a school complex in al-Hass on October 26.
News

When Refugees Work, Children More Likely to Attend School

The first day of school is just around the corner – a day usually marked by excitement and hope for the year to come. But for many Syrian refugee children, it promises to be just another dreary day of selling gum on the street or…
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Report

“Growing Up Without an Education”

Summary We left our country and our homes and now they don’t even have an education or a future. —Jawaher, North Lebanon, December 1, 2015 My children should learn to write their names. It…
News

Witness: "The Other Kids Were Cursing Me"

Samir is chatty and smart. Little of the 11-year-old’s confident demeanor reveals the horrors he has seen. Sitting bolt upright in one of his family’s two armchairs, the young Syrian politely answers questions, eager to share his story of uprooting and…
School supplies belonging to a Syrian refugee child enrolled in her local public school.
Report

“He Didn’t Have to Die”

“He Didn’t Have to Die” Indiscriminate Attacks by Opposition Groups in Syria Summary Car Bombings and Improvised Explosive Devices Indiscriminate Shelling of Populated Areas…
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Syria: Rebels’ Car Bombs, Rockets Kill Civilians

Indiscriminate Attacks Strike Government-Held Areas

(New York) – Opposition armed groups in Syria have indiscriminately attacked civilians in government-held territory with car bombs, mortars, and rockets, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The attacks have killed and maimed hundreds of…
News

Dispatches: School’s Out in Syria

As school holidays wind down across much of the northern hemisphere, many children will be having anxious thoughts about the upcoming year: new classmates, new teachers, new courses. But according to a report released this week by the United Nations…
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Syria: ISIS Holds 130 Kurdish Children

Kept Hostage for One Month

(New York) – The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) should immediately release the estimated 133 Kurdish boys it has held hostage in northern Syria for a month. ISIS abducted 153 children, ages 13 and 14, from the mostly Kurdish town of Ain…
News

Syria: Armed Groups Send Children into Battle

Recruitment Under the Guise of ‘Education’

Non-state armed groups in Syria have used children as young as 15 to fight in battles, sometimes recruiting them under the guise of offering education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The groups have used children as young as 14 in…
News

Norway: Leading Way to End Military Use of Schools

Global Campaign to Finalize, Implement Protection Guidelines

Geneva - The Norwegian government’s leadership to promote international standards to protect schools and universities from military use during armed conflict could spare students and teachers the horrors of war, the Global Coalition to Protect Education…