Children

COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: June 2025

This profile refers to individuals from Syria under the age of 18. The focus is on certain child-specific circumstances of increased vulnerability and risks that children in Syria may be exposed to.

Children have been subjected to different forms of violence amounting to persecution such as killing, maiming, exploitation, torture, sexual violence, abduction, organ trafficking, domestic violence, recruitment by armed groups, forced marriage.  

Even though the risk associated with the Assad regime has vanished, other actors of persecution such as, the Syrian National Army (SNA), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and Other non-State actors, including unspecified armed actors, are still present and operating and there is no information available indicating that their approach towards children has changed. Furthermore, perpetrators of violence against children are also their family members, community and the society at large.

HTS had subjected children to forced recruitment and had used them as ‘human shields, suicide bombers, snipers, and executioners’. There is, at the time of writing, no specific information as to the treatment of children by the Transitional Administration.

As of December 2024, an estimated 7.5 million children in Syria were in need of humanitarian assistance and around 6.4 million in need of psychological help. Due to the poor economic situation, child labour and child marriage remained prevalent coping mechanisms (see also the section on Women and girls). As of January 2025, there were some 2.4 million children out of school and an additional million at a risk of dropping out. Children were also particularly affected by a lack of civil documentation. Children of women heads of households were at an increased risk of statelessness due to the inability to register their births. Instances of recruitment of children by the SDF and by the Revolutionary Youth Movement have been reported.

Therefore, it can be concluded that:

Acts reported to be committed against children are of such severe nature that they amount to persecution (e.g. sexual assault, abduction, killing, some forms of child labour, forced recruitment, forced marriage).

The individual assessment of whether there is a reasonable degree of likelihood for the applicant to face persecution should take into account risk-impacting circumstances, such as:

• Socio-economic situation: Residing in IDP camps where living conditions have been described as inhumane and life-threatening [Country Focus 2025, 1.3.5]. Children in street situations are particularly at risk of exploitation and child marriage can be used to face economic hardship. Out of school children were at increased risk of child labour and child marriage, as well as trafficking and recruitment [Country Focus 2025, 1.3.6].

• Family status: Children of women heads of households were at an increased risk of statelessness due to the inability to register their births [Country Focus 2025, 1.3.5]. Children without a male relative who is willing and able to provide support, would particularly be at risk (see also ‘EUAA, '4.11.5. Single women and female-headed households' in Country Guidance: Syria, April 2024’).
• Home area: Children living in Kurdish controlled areas are at particular risk of recruitment by armed groups. Also, schooling for around 230 000 children was interrupted in northeast Syria and schools in Aleppo and other governorates were used as collective shelters making school attendance impossible. [Country Focus 2025, 1.3.6]. See also 'EUAA, '4.12.2. Child recruitment' in Country Guidance: Syria, April 2024'.