Press Release
On December 22, a report published by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed that there were child soldiers in the ranks of the Peoples' Defense Forces, HPG. First of all, we would like to state that we are deeply saddened that a well-known human rights organisation like HRW has become part of such a scenario that has nothing to do with the truth.
When ISIS gangs attempted to commit a genocide in Shengal on August 3, 2014, HPG forces, taking all risks, intervened in the massacre in Shengal, saving Shengal and its people from a greater massacre and rescued 150 thousand Êzidî people who were safely transferred to Rojava in a major rescue operation that couldn't even be managed by states.
However, being uncomfortable against the HPG's success which put to start the process of defeat for ISIS gangs, many powers and circles are running a smear campaign against the Kurdish movement and its defense forces, the HPG by means of trumped up scenarios for the expulsion of the HPG from the Shengal area and South Kurdistan.
The trumped up conjecture that HPG recruits child soldiers is a part of this scenario. As HPG, we became a party to the Geneva Call and the Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict in 2013.
Despite the rare participation of underage youths in our ranks without our approval, our movement has laid emphasis on this issue and made efforts to fulfill the convention we are a party to. There are no fighters aged under 16 in our ranks. Those youths aged 16-17 who were forced to join our ranks after fleeing the repression and violence of the Turkish state are not involved in the battle by our movement, and are receiving training in areas outside the battle field.
We explicitly state that we comply with the contractual letters we have made with international powers, especially the Geneva Call. The Geneva Call has made on-site examinations about the subject in our camps. As HPG, we once again declare that we are open to the inspection of all international powers in relation to the issue, particularly HRW. We, as HPG, have not received the letter which was adressed to us in the HRW report. However, since HRW has conducted research in South Kurdistan on this issue and has prepared a report, it is necessary for HRW themselves to come and carry out inspections in our camps.
HRW have not done this and have instead went to a YPŞ camp in Shengal, including our movement as part of the report which was prepared, thus putting our movement under conjecture which is misforunate in terms of an organization that should protect its neutrality in the international sense. The YBŞ is an organization that has emerged during the defense of the Yazidi people and has no organic connection with us. Therefore, the HPG is not responsible for what the YPŞ does.As the PKK and HPG, which pays attention to international norms in our own system, we recommend that other friendly organizations pay attention to international norms, but we cannot be held responsible for what these organizations do.
Again, in the case of the the K24 news channel, which has presented itself as a Kurdish publishing body, it is unethical in terms of media publications to develop a one-sided story about our movement and spreading widespread propaganda without taking our opinion on the subject.
As a result, the claims that our movement includes children from the South Kurdistan and from Sengal in its ranks is completely false and distorted, having nothing to do with reality. From time to time some young people come to join our ranks, but such situations are handled according to the international procedure. In this respect, our movement is under all circumstances committed to comply with our own principles and international law.
24.12.2016
People’s Defense Center Headquarters Command