ISIS Child Suspects Arrested, Tortured in Iraq

Children accused of affiliation with ISIS are being detained, and often tortured and prosecuted, regardless of their actual level of involvement with the group. This sweeping, punitive approach is not justice, and will create lifelong negative consequences for many of these children.

Human Rights Watch has issued a new report on children suspected of involvement in ISIS, or Daesh, “Everyone Must Confess: Abuses Against Children Suspected of ISIS affiliation in Iraq.” Hundreds of children have been picked up, thrown in to jail and tortured to extract confessions of complicity. Boys caught up in these sweeps fear bringing retaliation upon their families. It’s a textbook example of injustice perpetuating and feeing on itself. Child soldiers should be rehabilitated and reintegrated.