We spoke to the children of Kobanî on the occasion of World Children’s Day. “Where are the states claiming to defend children's rights today? Why are our rights not protected?” the children asked.

DILUCAN BOZÎ

Kobanî – World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children's Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare. November 20^th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite the articles of the convention, the violation of children's rights continues all over the world for 32 years because the convention is not implemented and this causes the children to face discrimination. The children are deprived of their fundamental rights, such as their rights to live, education, and play.

As of today, 197 countries have ratified the convention. Turkey ratified the convention in 1995 reserving the right to interpret and apply the provisions of articles 17, 29, and 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language,” the Article 30 says.

Victims of the war: Children

Children in Northern and Eastern Syria are deprived of their right to education and life due to the attacks and operations carried out by ISIS, Al-Nusra, and Turkey. Although many countries have ratified the convention, the children have no rights or their rights are not protected. Every day, dozens of children are killed in the Middle East due to conflicts but the states remain silent. Children are the most affected by the ongoing civil war that broke out in Syria in 2013. In 2014, ISIS attacked Kobanî with the support of Turkey. People of the region were forcibly displaced many children lost their lives on the way. Many children have been left parentless. In 2015, when the people of Kobanî returned to their homeland, ISIS organized suicide attacks in the city. 35 children were killed in those attacks and many children lost their parents.

Tens of thousands of children died on the migration route

In each attack on them, the people had only two options; migrate or accept their children to die in front of them. Immigration means death in every sense. The death of Alan Kurdi verifies this sentence. He was from Kobanî but had to migrate with his family.  He drowned on 2 September 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea along with his mother and brother. There are thousands of children like Alan Kurdi, who died trying to reach Europe.

They are deprived of their right to education

After the attacks of armed groups such as ISIS, Turkey launched an operation into Afrin on January 20, 2018. The people of Afrin were forcibly displaced from Afrin to Shehba due to the Turkish attacks. They are still struggling to survive in the tents in Shehba. Dozens of children lost their lives or have been left orphans due to the operation launched by Turkey.

The rights of children are not protected

Shortly after the 2019 Turkish offensive into NE Syria, a six-year-old child named Sara Rifet was targeted and killed by Turkish snipers while she was going to school. On October 9, 2019, Turkey launched an operation into the Cizîr and the Euphrates regions. Turkey and Turkish-backed factions took the control of Serêkaniyê and its rural areas, Girê Spî, Siluk, and some rural areas as a result of this operation. The citizens living in these areas were forcibly displaced to different cities of NE Syria. The children, who are from these regions, have been deprived of their rights. 13-year-old Mihemed becomes disabled due to the use of chemical weapons in Serêkaniyê. Despite all these, the organizations protecting the rights of children and human rights organizations remain silent. We spoke to the children of Kobanî on the occasion of World Children’s Day.

“We want to live in a safe place”

12-year-old Aca Eli doesn’t remember the days before the war. “War is a part of our lives. Children cannot live in peace due to the attacks of Turkey. Some children are still suffering from trauma. Some of the children in our class are still afraid. They are afraid of the return of ISIS and of losing their parents. While the children living in other countries live in peace, we are afraid of being killed. Today, the children lost their lives due to the mines left by the Turkish state. We are often deprived of our right to education. We want to live in a safe place with our parents,” Aca Eli told us.

“The world doesn’t hear our scream”

Mihemed Mustafa is a child worker. “While the children at my age go to school, I have to work. The states claiming that they protect the rights of children, don’t act according to their conventions. Every day, the children are killed or left without their parents. Only SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) protects our rights. I saw how Mihemed was burned due to the use of chemical weapons. But the Turkish states went unpunished,” he said.

“They want Kurdish children to die”

“All of the children living in this region grew up in the war. Where are the states claiming to defend children's rights today? Why are our rights not protected? When there is an attack, we are very afraid and hide. We don’t go out for days because we know that we will be killed if we go out. I lost many of my friends. We are afraid of losing our parents. The Turkish state wants Kurdish children to die,” 12-year-old Şeyda Ehmed told us.

“We don’t want war”

“We don’t want war,” Mihemed Enwer said, “The victims of the war in our region are children. We want to go to school, not die. We don’t want to die or lose our parents. The war left many children without parents. It causes us to be deprived of everything. Children are not happy anymore because they lost their parents. The children living in the refugee camps live under bad conditions. They want to return home. We want this war to be ended. We want to come together and play as before.”