"A continuing feature of the conflict in Syria is the widespread recruitment and use of children by all non-state armed groups, including….. ISIL and Al Nusra Front have also used children to perpetrate acts of extreme violence. Reports have been received of armed groups targeting children as young as seven years of age, and forcibly recruiting children through coercion of family and abductions. ISIL allegedly recruited up to 400 children in the first quarter of 2015," Leila Zerrougui told the Security Council on Monday.
The United Nations has been verifying cases of militants' use of foreign children, she said.
In Syria, children have received military training in three ISIL centers — in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, she said.
"In addition, ISIL has opened kindergartens for boys in Raqqa, and Nusra Front has instructed communities in Idlib to send boys aged 8 to 12 to their ‘education’ camps. Syrian Government Forces have arrested and detained children for alleged association with armed groups," Zerrougui said.
Vast territories in Iraq and neighboring Syria have been occupied by the Islamic State (ISIL) militant group, which has proclaimed a caliphate on the land under its control.
Raqqa is the major ISIL stronghold in Syria. In the beginning of 2015, ISIL crushed the city's educational network by closing all schools and institutes. In March, the militants prepared a new school curriculum inspired by Islamic fundamentalist Muhammad Wahhab.
Later, the ISIL militants announced plans to open institutes to ideologically re-qualify teachers for them to see propaganda of the group's radical beliefs instead of scientific subjects.
