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Syrian security forces have detained and tortured children with impunity during the past year, a rights group claimed on Friday. Hundreds of children have been killed as the government continues its crackdown on rebels and protesters.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that it has documented at least 12 cases of children being detained under inhumane conditions, children being tortured, and other children being shot while in their homes or on the street. The New York-based organization urged the United Nations Security Council to demand that the Syrian government ends all human rights violations.

"Children have not been spared the horror of Syria's crackdown," said Lois Whitman, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch. "Syrian security forces have killed, arrested, and tortured children in their homes, their schools, or on the streets. In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults."

Human Rights Watch also said it has documented government use of schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks, and sniper posts, as well as the arrest of children from schools. It urged the Syrian government to stop deploying security forces in schools and hospitals.

"Human Rights Watch has documented widespread government violence against peaceful demonstrators, systematic killings, beatings, torture using electroshock devices, and detention of people seeking medical care," the rights group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is currently considering a draft resolution to end the situation in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed over the past 10 months in a government crackdown against a popular uprising. The resolution calls for an immediate cessation of violence by all parties and progress towards national dialogue that leads to a peaceful political resolution of the crisis.

Syria's Ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, has said his country rejects any "international intervention" and added that "homelands are built by their own citizens." Ja'afari has also said that Syria will continue to protect its own people against armed elements, denouncing what he termed "feverish attempts" to interfere in Syria's internal affairs by misleading world public opinion.

According to the most recent figures released by the United Nations last month, at least 5,400 people have been killed as a result of violence during the uprising. Syrian human rights and opposition activists say the figure has since surpassed 7,000 and includes hundreds of children.

In late November, the United Nations Committee Against Torture also claimed it had received 'credible reports from sources' that children are being tortured and mutilated while in detention by security forces. Claudio Grossman, who heads the 10-member expert panel, provided no specific details to substantiate the claims.

Picture: Naharnet.com

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