The whereabouts of more than 3,000 Syrians who were abducted by the PKK terror group’s Syrian offshoot the YPG are unknown, according to a human rights group.
The terror group arbitrarily detains people, said Fadel Abdul Ghany, head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), in an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).
"It is not specified why the detainees are held. There is no judicial process. The families are not informed. The situation is no different from the practices of the Assad regime," Ghany said.
According to figures released by the SNHR, there are 3,398 people who were arbitrarily detained by the YPG terror group and whose fate is unknown.
A recent report called "The Most Notable Human Rights Violations in Syria in November 2020" published by the SNHR also underlined that "states supporting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) should apply pressure on these forces in order to compel them to cease all of their violations in all the areas and towns under their control, adding that all forms of support, military and all others, should be ceased unless the SDF stops all its violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law."
"SDF must immediately stop conscripting children, hold the officers involved in such violations accountable, and pledge to return all children who have been arrested for conscription immediately," it added, using an alternative acronym for the YPG-led groups.
The report outlined the most notable human rights violations documented by the SNHR in November 2020 at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria. The report notes that Syria is an unsafe country for the return of refugees and IDPs due to the survival of the same security services since 2011.
The report documented the deaths of 172 civilians in November, including 16 children and 11 women. The report also noted the deaths of 30 individuals who died due to torture as well as at least two massacres.
It further documented at least 167 cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions in November, including two children and three women, with the largest percentage of these carried out by Syrian regime forces in the governorates of Damascus, the Damascus suburbs and Daraa.
In addition to these incidents, the report also documented at least 13 attacks on vital civilian facilities in Daraa, seven of which were carried out at the hands of Syrian regime forces, one at the hands of YPG forces and five others at the hands of other parties. Among these attacks, they documented four on schools and one other on a medical facility.
Local people living in areas held by the group have long suffered atrocities at the hands of the YPG. Numerous human rights organizations have documented the YPG's violations of human rights including torture, its recruiting of child soldiers and burning civil buildings. The group also systematically and forcefully displaced Arabs from their homes in line with their ethnic policies in traditionally Arab towns.
Although the U.S. recognizes the PKK as a terrorist organization, it has primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group. Turkey strongly opposes the YPG's presence in northern Syria, which has been a major sticking point in strained Turkey-U.S. relations. The U.S. has provided military training and thousands of truckloads of weaponry to the YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.