UNITED NATIONS, June 28. /TASS/. Russia is worried over the situation of children on Syria’s territories outside Damascus’ control, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gennady Kuzmin said on Monday.
"We are very worried over the situation children are in on territories not controlled by Damascus - the Idlib de-escalation zone and in the northwest of the country," he said at a United Nations Security Council meeting dedicated to the problems of children in armed conflicts.
"Idlib is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham recognized by the United Nations Security Council as a terrorist organization [outlawed in Russia]. As a matter of fact, terrorists use the local population as a human shield. Children are the ones, who suffer from the arbitrariness of the local authorities the most. Child and early marriages are on the rise in the region. Schoolchildren cannot leave the enclave for government-controlled territories to pass their exams," the Russian diplomat noted.
Apart from that, according to Kuzmin, a catastrophic situation is observed in the al-Hol and Roj camps for internally displaced persons in the northeast of the country. "Temporary accommodation centers are overcrowded, with extremist ideologies and religious radicalism being propagated there," he said. "Once again, we call on countries to fulfill their obligations under international law and take steps to repatriate children from zones of armed conflicts".
He stressed that Moscow is ready to share its experience of such work. "Since 2018, we have returned to the homeland 318 our children from Syria and Iraq and are taking efforts to rehabilitate them," he added.