Children's Rights

Opening Title

A New Chance in Life

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Yunus, 8 years old, France

Yunus (in French)

I play football, go to music lessons, and I’m going to be a veterinarian when I grow up.

Voice Over

Yunus was among thousands of children unlawfully detained in camps in northeast Syria for Islamic State (ISIS) suspects and their family members.

He’s been living with his grandparents in France for the past two and a half years.

Yunus’s grandmother (in French)

My grandson has settled in very well at school, he has friends, he is good at math and very curious. Interested in all subjects.

Voice Over

Yunus was held in al-Hol, the main detention camp. His mother was killed in an airstrike in 2018 and his father is imprisoned in northeast Syria.

Al-Hol and Roj camps unlawfully detain nearly 40,000 foreign women and children from around 60 countries.

Eighty percent of the children are under age 12. They live in life-threatening conditions. Hundreds of children have died from preventable diseases, accidents, and camp violence, including attacks by ISIS supporters.

All governments with nationals detained in northeast Syria should urgently ensure they can return home, giving priority to children and their mothers.

Human Rights Watch contacted family members, caregivers, social workers and psychologists for repatriated children in seven countries. Respondents said that most of the children are doing well.

They are enjoying school and making new friends. Some are at the top of their class.

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Ibrahim, 9 years old, Kazakhstan

Voice Over

Ibrahim returned to Kazakhstan with his mother in 2019.

Voiced by Actor

He enjoys dancing and scootering.  He is joyful, open and self-confident.

Voice Over

Some repatriated children live with their grandparents or other extended family members. Despite the challenges they have experienced, our research found that with proper support, now many can fully enjoy their childhood.

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Sarah, 6 years old, Sweden

Voice Over

Sarah and her siblings returned to Sweden after their parents were killed in Syria.  Now they live with foster families, but visit their grandfather regularly. 

Patricio Galvez

Grandfather of seven repatriated children

My 6-year-old granddaughter loves to use her hands and her imagination for artistic creativity. The recovery of the children is fully possible. My grandchildren are the proof of that. They have had an amazing recovery.

The key to this is a quick and safe repatriation to their countries. All children should have the opportunity to get a new chance in life.

Meet Laila.

She could be anyone’s child.

Every school day, Laila opens her school’s online learning app, and logs in for class.

Instantly, the app may begin to collect personal data about Laila,

which may include who she is, where she is, what she does, and even who her family and friends are

and may send this data to advertising tech companies.

Their sophisticated algorithms can analyze Laila’s data to guess at her personal characteristics and interests, and predict her future behavior.

Advertising tech companies may sell or share these insights about Laila with advertisers, law enforcement, or governments.

How did this happen?

Covid-19 school closures turned bedrooms and kitchens into classrooms overnight. Governments around the world endorsed the use of education technologies, or EdTech, for kids to continue learning.

But in the rush to connect kids to virtual classrooms, many governments failed to check that their recommended EdTech products  were safe for kids to use.  Without adequate protections in place, children were compelled to give up their privacy in order to learn.

Governments should urgently protect our children by passing modern child data protection laws.

Human Rights Watch investigated more than 150  EdTech products and found that more than 140 of them monitored or could monitor children, most secretly and without consent.

Many installed trackers that followed children across the internet even after they left their virtual classrooms, outside of school hours and deep into their private lives.

Others invisibly tagged children in ways that were impossible to get rid of, without throwing the device away in the trash.

Laila should be safe in school, whether she’s there in person or online.

Governments can protect Laila by passing modern child data protection laws.

By doing so, they can defend Laila, and all children, from being surveilled online by actors who don’t have their best interests at heart.

Students are priceless, not products.