MESOP : PYD/PKK FORCED RECRUITEMENTS AGAINST UN REGULATIONS

PYD Kidnaps Young Kurds in Hasaka – Kurdish main party in Rojava arrested several young Kurds under the pretext of forced recruitment

Basnews – 17.07.2015 – HASAKA – Militants of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) on Wednesday arrested several young Kurds under the pretext of forced recruitment.The Kurdish news website Rojava News, reported that the security police of the PYD arrested 30 youths inside the city of Hasakah and took them to the centres of the Self Defence Forces.

This is not the first time that the PYD has kidnapped young Kurds under the pretext of military service.On 14 July 2014, the PYD-administration in Hasakah province adopted the mandatory self-defence law making it compulsory for all men between the age of 18 and 30 to perform 6 months service in the military forces of the PYD. This law was also adopted in Efrin on 7 May. Three members of the Self Defence Force died in the western countryside of Serikaniye, which was under attack by the militant Islamic State (IS), the PYD announced on 10 July. On 20 June, the PYD forces raided several villages, and forcefully recruited 200 men, including two minors Muhammed Rasho (16), and Jiwan Khalo (17), violating the ban on child soldiers, the Kurdish NGO Kurdwatch reported. Recently, the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked the PYD stop the recruitment of child soldiers, which is banned under international law.However, HRW did not condemn the forceful recruitment of Kurdish youth by the PYD in Syria.