WASHINGTON

PKK terrorist organization continued to forcibly recruit children to use them in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, according to a report by US State Department on Tuesday.

The 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report stated that children remain vulnerable to forcible recruitment and use by multiple armed groups operating in Iraq, including Daesh/ISIS, PKK, and Iran backed-militias.

"Multiple sources report the PKK and People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in the IKR and Sinjar continued to recruit and use children," said the report, referring to Iraqi Kurdish regional government.

YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the organization.

The report recalled the terror group PKK recruited dozens of children to prepare them for combat last year. Among them were those from Kirkuk, Iraq.

In addition, PKK's militia groups in Sinjar, formed by Ezidi women, employed Ezidi minors and teenage recruits in paramilitary roles in the region last year, according to the report.

"In 2018, civil society organizations reported the PKK recruited and trained children from Sinjar, Makhmour, and other locations and then sent them to bases in Sinjar, Turkey, and the Qandil Mountains between Iraq and Iran," the report said.

Turning to Syria, the annual report noted the activity of the YPG, the Syrian affiliate there, saying the recruitment and use of children in combat in Syria remains common.

"The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) in northwest Syria continue to recruit, train, and use boys and girls as young as 12 years old," said the report.

It also showed that since 2017, international observers reported that YPG and YPJ recruited -- sometimes by force -- children from displacement camps in northeast Syria.

In its over 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.