Children in Syria being tortured, says UN

Children in Syria have been tortured, maimed and sexually abused by President Bashar Assad’s forces and recruited for combat by the rebels fighting to topple him during the country’s near-three-year-old conflict, a United Nations report said.

The report, which highlights the treatment of children in the conflict from the beginning of the uprising against Assad in March 2011 until November 15, 2013, was released this week to the Security Council.

It cites UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon as saying that Syrian children have been subjected to “unspeakable suffering”.